A COMMUNITY BONDED BY THE LOVE OF ART

The entrepreneur Christian Kohorst has been the fourth chairman of FREUNDE since spring 2023 and is continuing the successful work of his predecessor Gabriele Quandt with further rejuvenated committees in the spirit of FREUNDE: with his great love for art as well as the desire for risk and the entrepreneurial response to the Challenges of today's National Gallery.

Already at the founding meeting in 1977 it was decided to acquire Max Liebermann's “Stevenstift in Leyden” in order to forestall other prospective buyers. The association was therefore immediately active in its statutory task. This attitude continues to shape FRIENDE’s actions to this day.

We, the FRIENDS, have been supporting the work of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin for more than 40 years. Preserving this large National Gallery, which comprises six (soon to be seven) buildings, and supporting it is the most socially relevant task of our non-profit association “FRIENDS of the National Gallery”. We are expanding the Nationalgalerie's scope for action in times of limited public resources: for the buildings, for the institution, for Berlin, for national and international visitors and for art.

We love the enthusiasm of the audience - when something unexpected opens up in the art experience, when boundaries shift and one's own horizons expand. We are particularly interested in projects that write museum, city or art history - on a large and small scale, complicated or very easy to implement. The only requirement is that those responsible for curatorial work convince us of their ideas - then we are happy to do everything we can to make a project possible.

In collaboration with the curators of the National Gallery, as FRIENDS - and only a few people know this - we take on extensive operational and organizational tasks with our own team. In other words, we work to implement projects quickly, innovatively, efficiently and in a way that conserves resources. We benefit from the fact that as a private support association we can think and shape things in an entrepreneurial way. In this way, we always create considerable freedom for artists and curators.

We consider art, culture and, above all, broad access to cultural education to be essential for the success of our social interaction. The idea of ​​patronage, which may sound somewhat outdated - i.e. the private support of works of art or institutions without any expectation of commercial benefit - appears to us more than ever to be of great value. That's why it's our heartfelt wish to inspire many, very different people for the FREUNDE mission and to pass on our passion to younger people. There are the young FRIENDS (18-40 years old) and the little FRIENDS (up to 18 years old), but also the 2FREUNDE membership, which makes it possible to enjoy membership at a reduced price with a loved one of your choice. And of course our company friends, who provide access to the National Gallery to a wide range of employees.

To support the large National Gallery - with the Old and New National Gallery, Hamburger Bahnhof, Friedrichswerder Church, Museum Berggruen and the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection, a museum comprising a total of six houses in the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany - and to see it into the future as a lively, multi-voiced and international institution carry, that is the most important task of the FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY.

Our award for people who
a special contribution to FRIENDS
and their projects