In:complete Destroyed, divided, completed

Adolph Menzel , Portrait of a woman, fragment, around 1846 © State Museums in Berlin, National Gallery / Andres Kilger

In:complete Destroyed, divided, completed looks at the insights and stories behind incomplete or unfinished objects in the various collections of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The exhibition argues that our view of the past is shaped by fragments. In many cases they are products of destruction caused by wars, catastrophes or even a change in taste. At the same time, they exert an aesthetic appeal. For centuries, they fascinated artists, for example in the form of ruins, as symbols of the past and the ephemeral. They all tell stories - of destruction and decay, research and knowledge or even inspiration.