Victoria and the Brandenburg Gate in art — Meynier and Kirchner

The goddess of victory, Victoria, has stood on the Brandenburg Gate since 1793, and since the 19th century the Gate has been painted. This page presents two painters who put it into a picture, the Frenchman Charles Meynier as chronicler of Napoleon's entry and the Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner as painter of the big city, and tells what the Quadriga went through in between. The building history is in the guide to the Brandenburg Gate and Tiergarten.

VictoriaThe goddess of victory on the Quadriga atop the Brandenburg Gate.Pariser Platz, Brandenburg Gate · 1793 · recast 1957Talk to the figure →

Meynier: Napoleon's entry, 1810

Charles Meynier painted Napoleon's entry into Berlin on 27 October 1806, after the victory at Jena, with the Brandenburg Gate in the background.¹ The painting measures 363 by 493 centimetres and hangs in the Palace of Versailles today.¹ In this picture the Gate is the backdrop of a triumph, not the subject. The description does not mention the Quadriga itself. What happened to it in the weeks after the entry is documented: at the beginning of December 1806 it was taken down, packed in twelve crates and left for France on 21 December; at the end of June 1814 it was lifted back onto the Gate, and on 7 August 1814 the covers fell.⁴

Kirchner: the Gate as a city picture, 1915 and 1929

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner moved to Berlin in 1911 and between 1913 and 1915 painted the street scenes that are among the best-known pictures of the modern city.⁵ In 1915 he was discharged from military service after a mental breakdown; from 1917 he lived in Davos, Switzerland.⁵ His “Brandenburg Gate” of 1915 measures 50 by 70 centimetres and belongs to the Würth Collection.² He took up the motif again in 1929, also 50 by 70 centimetres, also Würth Collection; the image comes from the Städel Museum.³

1. 1793In mid-year the Quadriga is anchored on the Gate.
2. 1806Napoleon enters Berlin on 27 October; on 21 December the Quadriga leaves for Paris in twelve crates.
3. 1810Charles Meynier completes the painting of the entry.
4. 1814At the end of June the Quadriga is lifted back onto the Gate; on 7 August the covers fall.
5. 1911Ernst Ludwig Kirchner moves to Berlin.
6. 1915Kirchner paints the Brandenburg Gate.
7. 1929Kirchner takes up the motif again.
8. 1958The re-creation of the Quadriga stands on the Gate.