"The Art of the Enlightenment" (启蒙的艺术) at the National Museum of China

Under the the joint auspices of Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China, and Christian Wulff, German Federal President, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Munich jointly present "The Art of the Enlightenment" exhibition in partnerhisp with the National Museum of China, one of the largest museum buildings in the world.

This major exhibition follows the completion in spring 2011 of renovation work by Hamburg-based architects Gerkan, Marg und Partner and marks the high point of the German-Chinese programme of cultural events, bilaterally agreed upon in 2005.

Held at the National Museum of China in Beijing/Peking, 北京 "The Art of the Enlightment" (启蒙的艺术) is divided in nine separate chapters 'Court Life in the Age of the Enlightenment', 'Perspectives of Knowledge', 'The Birth of History', 'Far and Near', 'Love and Sensibility', 'Back to Nature', 'Shadows', 'Emancipation and the Public Sphere' and 'The Revolution of Art' exemplifying the great ideas of the Enlightenment, its influence on the fine arts and its effective history, from the artistic revolutions of the 18th century right up to the present day.

Occupying over 2700 m² and with 579 loans including the art of famous artists such as Angelika Kauffmann, Caspar David Friedrich, Francisco Goya, Jean-Antoine Watteau, Marie-Gabrielle Capet, Theobald Reinhold von Oër, Thomas Gainsborough, Julius Caesar Ibbetson and Piranesi, the exhibition shows the full spectrum of the art in the Europe of Enlightenment, encompassing painting, drawings, sculpture, prints, crafts, fashion and even exquisite scientific instruments.

Also for the entire duration of the exhibition, the Stiftung Mercator will stage the Enlightenment in Dialogue series comprising a number of dialogue blocks at intervals of around two months, addressing various facets of a contemporary examination of the subject of enlightenment.

BMW is also a partner of the exhibition and will support a cultural programme that will include an exchange programme for young curators from China and Germany, which is designed to approximate both cultures, a youth congress and a series of concerts entitled “The Music of Enlightenment".

The exhibition can be visited from April 2nd 2011 to March 31st 2012.

The National Museum of China is located at Tiananmen Square, 16, East Chang’an Street, Dongcheng district Beijing.