Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and his wife Loki were art lovers. The exhibition "The Chancellor's Art" gives some insight into their collection.
Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt (1918-2015) held the arts in high regard, both as a public figure and a private person.
For instance, it is well known that he was an avid and talented piano player.
But he also revealed his deep appreciation of art throughout his career as German Chancellor. In 1979, he had Henry Moore's steel sculpture, Large Two Forms, erected in front of the Chancellery building in the former German capital, Bonn. During Schmidt's state visit to East Germany in 1981, he planned a visit to the Güstrow Cathedral to get to see Ernst Barlach's sculpture Der Schwebende (Hovering man).
His admiration for Barlach resulted in the Chancellor and his wife regularly visiting the Ernst Barlach Haus museum in Hamburg. The museum, together with the Helmut and Loki Schmidt Foundation and the Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation, is now showing the private collection of the renowned couple. It includes about 150 paintings and sculptures.
Adapted by Sertan Sanderson.
