Max-Liebermann-Haus

Haus Liebermann, also known as the Max-Liebermann-Haus, stands on Pariser Platz in Berlin-Mitte as a commemoration of the life and work of the painter and as part of the urban edge beside the Brandenburger Tor.

At this location in the 19th century there stood a neoclassical townhouse, completed in 1844 and later acquired by the Liebermann family. Max Liebermann grew up there and spent most of his life in these rooms; from 1892 he and his wife and daughter occupied the second floor. With the seizure of power in 1933 his artistic activity ended as a result of a ban on working; two years later he died in the apartment. His widow was forced to leave the flat in 1936 and was later threatened with deportation; in March 1943 she took her own life. The townhouse was destroyed in 1943 and the rubble removed. During the period of German division the site lay in the border zone and was within the area of the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989.

After reunification, a new building in the form of a critical reconstruction was erected on the same site in the late 1990s; the reconstruction was completed in 1999. The family’s living and working rooms were redesigned internally and are now open to visitors. Since 2000 the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor has overseen the exhibition of paintings by Max Liebermann and uses the house as its seat.

The original building displayed typical neoclassical features: three storeys, a flat roof, a symmetrical articulation and a central bay facing the garden or park. For the new house the exterior proportions and the relationship to the Brandenburger Tor were retained without increasing the building’s height. The sandstone facade references the historical model, the windows are tall, rectangular and flush with the surface; a small balcony above the main entrance and a three-storey bay on the park side recall earlier details.

Inside, marble, maple wood panelling and coffered ceilings together with the beige tone of the sandstone define the ambience. In front of the entrance lies a Stolperstein bearing the name Martha Liebermann.