Heinrich Zille Museum

Heinirich Zille (1858-1929), known as the ‘gutter artist from Berlin’ in his day was the artist and illustrator who best portrayed the everyday life of ordinary Berliners between the 1890’s and 1920s. His caricatures which are today highly considered as historical, cultural and social documents of the Weimar years show the citizens of the surging metropolis at their most popular, local and typical. Zille’s focus as an artist was the underbelly of the city, its dingiest side, the backyards, the workers crowded in basement dwellings or the more summery scenes of the city’s outdoor life on the beach, the fairgrounds and entertainment of the lower classes.

In sketches, drawings, lithographs and photographs he left a chronicle of the the lives of the Volk with humour and accuracy and his images are still poured over nostalgically – so much so that an exhibition was held at the Berlin Academy of Arts in 200 marking the 150th anniversary of his death and commemorating the work of this favourite Berlin artist who became Berlin’s honorary citizen no. 80 and was invited to become a member of the Berlin Academy by its prestigious president, Max Liebermann.

The Zille Museum, located in one of the oldest of Berlin’s quarters, the Nikolaiviertel near Alexanderplatz, was entirely privately financed and was founded thanks to the efforts of the artist’s great grandson Heinz-Jörg Preetz-Zille was relaunched in 2007 after through restoration with a new exhibition including original drawings, lithographs and photographs.