Galerie Ferdinand Möller was a leading gallery promoting German modernism from 1918 to 1949 in Berlin. During the Nazi period, Ferdinand Möller (1882–1956), [FIG. 1], the owner of the eponymous gallery, was one of four art dealers appointed by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to sell abroad those art works confiscated from German museums in 1937-38 as “degenerate” on behalf of the government. Möller is a controversial actor on the art market between 1933 and 1945. His activities during this era reflect both his commitment to the preservation of German modernism and his collaboration with the Nazi regime in the sales of ‘degenerate art’.
From 1918, Möller was active in various locations in Berlin’s Tiergartenviertel, dealing with and exhibiting modern art. He started his business in Berlin at Potsdamer Strasse 134c [FIG. 2] when he took over the gallery space of Mathilde Rabl (1857–1918), who was possibly the first woman working as an independent art dealer in Germany.
Galerie Ferdinand Möller quickly developed a focus on German Expressionism by exhibiting Die Brücke (The Bridge) artists Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff [FIG. 3] and Otto Mueller [FIG. 4] as well as contemporary sculpture by Georg Kolbe.
After an intermezzo in Potsdam (1924-27), the gallery moved back to Berlin into the same building as the Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen at Schöneberger Ufer 38 [FIGS. 5–8] which Möller had remodeled by the architect Hans Poelzig. Highlights were exhibitions of works by Wassily Kandinsky in 1928 and the Die Blaue Vier (The Blue Four), i.e. Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, Alexej von Jawlensky and Kandinsky, in 1929. A year later Möller organised a show of Rabindranath Tagore and an ambitiously themed exhibition Vision und Formgesetz [‘Vision and law of form] together with art critic Ernst Kallai (1890–1954) from the Bauhaus on the common ground of Expressionism and abstraction. From 1928 on he edited the periodical Blätter der Galerie Ferdinand Möller. [FIG. 9, 10]
At first the Nazis’ seizure of power in 1933 had little impact on Möller’s gallery. He continued to do ‘business as usual’, presenting exhibitions featuring the works of Feininger, Nolde and Oskar Schlemmer, among others, through to1937. [FIGS. 11-13]
Between July and early October 1933 Möller provided his gallery space to the National Socialist German Students League for the show 30 Deutsche Künstler (30 German artists). The exhibition became a lightning rod for the so-called ‘Expressionismusdebatte’ which opposed Joseph Goebbels (initially supportive of German modern art) and Alfred Rosenberg (who virulently opposed German Expressionism) before the Nazi party line was defined by Hitler in a 1935 speech repudiating and vilifying all modern and avant-garde art, deemed ‘degenerate’ by the regime.
In 1937, a large-scale operation set in motion by the Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Goebbels confiscated more than 16,000 artworks from German public collections, many of which were put on show in the defamatory ‘degenerate art’ exhibition in Munich that same year. Möller, along with Karl Buchholz, Hildebrand Gurlitt and Bernhard Böhmer, was tasked by the Nazis with the international sales of so-called ‘degenerate art’. The group was instructed to sell to buyers outside the country with the dual purpose of obtaining hard currency for the Nazi government and removing the artworks from Germany, but Möller did not comply. Until 1943, he continued to quietly sell works of art from the Schönhausen Palace depot to domestic collectors, this with the concern of preserving modern German art from destruction. [FIG. 14]
In 1939 the gallery moved to its final location in Berlin at Kluckstrasse 12. [FIG. 15] When it was hit by bombs in 1943, Möller moved the remaining stock to his house in Zermützel near Neuruppin, designed in 1937-1938 by Hans Scharoun, who went on to design the Philharmonie Berlin in the 1960s. In 1951 Möller reopened his gallery in Cologne. The archive of the Galerie Ferdinand Möller can be found at Berlinische Galerie in Berlin. A plaque commemorates Ferdinand Möller at Schöneberger Ufer 78 (formerly 38). [FIG. 16].
In March 1931 Möller sold Alexej von Jawlensky’s painting Renaissancekopf to the Anhaltinische Gemäldegalerie, Dessau. In 1937 the painting was confiscated from the museum due to the ‘Law on the Confiscation of Products of Degenerate Art’ (EK inv. no. 10925).
Between 1938 and 1962 the Jawlensky reappeared on the Swiss and German art market before it was acquired by the collector who consigned it to a sale at Christie’s New York on 11 November 2021. [FIG. 17].
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At first the Nazis’ seizure of power in 1933 had little impact on Möller’s gallery. He continued to do ‘business as usual’, presenting exhibitions featuring the works of Feininger, Nolde and Oskar Schlemmer, among others, through to1937. [FIGS. 11-13]
Between July and early October 1933 Möller provided his gallery space to the National Socialist German Students League for the show 30 Deutsche Künstler (30 German artists). The exhibition became a lightning rod for the so-called ‘Expressionismusdebatte’ which opposed Joseph Goebbels (initially supportive of German modern art) and Alfred Rosenberg (who virulently opposed German Expressionism) before the Nazi party line was defined by Hitler in a 1935 speech repudiating and vilifying all modern and avant-garde art, deemed ‘degenerate’ by the regime.
In 1937, a large-scale operation set in motion by the Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Goebbels confiscated more than 16,000 artworks from German public collections, many of which were put on show in the defamatory ‘degenerate art’ exhibition in Munich that same year. Möller, along with Karl Buchholz, Hildebrand Gurlitt and Bernhard Böhmer, was tasked by the Nazis with the international sales of so-called ‘degenerate art’. The group was instructed to sell to buyers outside the country with the dual purpose of obtaining hard currency for the Nazi government and removing the artworks from Germany, but Möller did not comply. Until 1943, he continued to quietly sell works of art from the Schönhausen Palace depot to domestic collectors, this with the concern of preserving modern German art from destruction. [FIG. 14]
In 1939 the gallery moved to its final location in Berlin at Kluckstrasse 12. [FIG. 15] When it was hit by bombs in 1943, Möller moved the remaining stock to his house in Zermützel near Neuruppin, designed in 1937-1938 by Hans Scharoun, who went on to design the Philharmonie Berlin in the 1960s. In 1951 Möller reopened his gallery in Cologne. The archive of the Galerie Ferdinand Möller can be found at Berlinische Galerie in Berlin. A plaque commemorates Ferdinand Möller at Schöneberger Ufer 78 (formerly 38). [FIG. 16].
In March 1931 Möller sold Alexej von Jawlensky’s painting Renaissancekopf to the Anhaltinische Gemäldegalerie, Dessau. In 1937 the painting was confiscated from the museum due to the ‘Law on the Confiscation of Products of Degenerate Art’ (EK inv. no. 10925).
Between 1938 and 1962 the Jawlensky reappeared on the Swiss and German art market before it was acquired by the collector who consigned it to a sale at Christie’s New York on 11 November 2021. [FIG. 17].
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Potsdamer Strasse 134c (Mid-Oct 1918-Sept 1924); Schöneberger Ufer 38 (July 1927-1931); Großadmiral-von-Koester-Ufer 39 respectively (since 1936) Großadmiral-von-Koester-Ufer 73 (1935-1939);Kluckstrasse 12 (May 1939 –Dec 1949)
Potsdamer Strasse 134c (Mid-Oct 1918-Sept 1924); Schöneberger Ufer 38 (July 1927-1931); Großadmiral-von-Koester-Ufer 39 respectively (since 1936) Großadmiral-von-Koester-Ufer 73 (1935-1939);Kluckstrasse 12 (May 1939 –Dec 1949)
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Related addresses: Schöneberger Ufer 38 until May 1935 (Architect: Heinrich Schweitzer); Schöneberger Ufer 71
Budapester Strasse (1932) not identical with today’s Budapester Strasse; Lützowstrasse 32 I (October 1925–1930); Königin-Augusta-Strasse 22 (October 1930–1932) - in 1933 this street becomes Tirpitzufer 84 and in 1947 it was renamed to Reichpietschufer. Lützowufer 19a (November 1932–1937), since 1933: Galerie Nierendorf; Großadmiral-von-Koester-Ufer 65 (1935–1947), Schöneberger Ufer.
Potsdamer Strasse 134c (Mid-Oct 1918-Sept 1924); Schöneberger Ufer 38 (July 1927-1931); Großadmiral-von-Koester-Ufer 39 respectively (since 1936) Großadmiral-von-Koester-Ufer 73 (1935-1939);Kluckstrasse 12 (May 1939 –Dec 1949)
Employee and partner at the Galerie / Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer
Related addresses: Street partially still exists as Hitzigallee.
Related addresses: Koenigin-Augusta-Strasse 46, in 1933 becomes Tirpitzufer 84, in 1947 becomes Reichpietschufer. Her last address in Berlin before deportation to Theresienstadt Bleibtreustrasse 17.
ALL BUILDINGS ARE DESTROYED
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Henry van de Velde (1894-1943), designer of the interior of the reading room at the gallery Paul Cassirer, Victoria Strasse 35.
(Street and building are destroyed)
Related addresses: Reichskammer der Bildenden Künste, Government agency 1933-1945; Blumes Hof 4-6 (since June 1934; street and building are destroyed; today's postcode 10785), Derfflingerstrasse 7 (from October 1935 until March 1937), Ahornstrasse 2 (1938). Today's postcode 10785
