Alicja Kwade
Goldelse

Artist
Alicja Kwade

Title
Goldelse

Year of creation
2021

Technique and dimensions
Bronze, gold-plated, 164 cm x 74 cm x 93 cm, 160 kg

Year of acquisition
2024

Acquisition of the FRIENDS of the National Gallery. Donation from Alicja Kwade & Pace Gallery


Alicja Kwade's sculpture “Goldelse” (2021) can be seen in the sculpture garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie from August 13, 2024. The gold-plated bronze figure, which weighs 160 kg, refers in form and content to the statue of the goddess of victory Viktoria on the Berlin Victory Column in the Tiergarten, called “Goldelse” by Berliners.
Alicja Kwade (born 1979) created the sculpture “Goldelse” (2021) using photo trigonometry scanning technology and a 3D model in order to resemble the Victoria of the Berlin Victory Column (1864-1873) created by Friedrich Drake as closely as possible. to orientate. Kwade removed the statue's traditional symbols of power such as its wings, the laurel wreath that it holds in its raised right hand, the staff in its left hand with the Iron Cross and the eagle helmet. Without military equipment and combative gestures, Kwade's Viktoria has lowered her arms, unlike the original. Kwade adjusts the size of the goddess of victory brought to the ground to human dimensions. With a height of 164cm, she now corresponds exactly to the artist's height.
The artistic reinterpretation refers to the eventful history of the Goldelse. Created as a symbol of Prussia's victories, appropriated by National Socialism and moved to its current location at the Großer Stern in the Tiergarten, it became a symbol of freedom for the Berlin techno and queer scene in the 1990s through the Love Parade.
In addition to “Daphne” (1918) by Renée Sintenis and “Venus Negra” (1958) by Marianna Nuñez del Prado, “Goldelse” by Alicja Kwade is now the third sculpture by a female artist in the sculpture garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie.

Maike Steinkamp