The exhibition Night at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie brings together several of Maurizio Cattelan’s most famous works alongside more recent pieces, transforming the museum’s vast modernist space into a world of disturbing imagery and unexpected juxtapositions.
Confronting History with “Him”
Among the most striking works on display is Him, a 2001 sculpture depicting Adolf Hitler kneeling on the floor as if in prayer. From a distance, the figure resembles a small, innocent child, but as visitors move around it, the unmistakable face of the dictator is revealed.
Created over two decades ago, the sculpture sold for €15 million at auction in 2016. Co-curator Lisa Botti notes that the piece remains deeply relevant today: “The sculpture is actually from 2001, so it’s not a recent one, but unfortunately it stays relevant in our times.”
Playful and provocative, Cattelan deliberately leaves the figure’s meaning unresolved. “You don’t really know if he’s praying for forgiveness or not,” Botti explains. “It stays in between, giving it a power that shakes you, but offers no certainty.”
Berlin Landmarks Reimagined
The exhibition also plays with familiar symbols and urban iconography. In Purgatory, Cattelan presents a scaled-down version of Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, while in People, hundreds of stuffed pigeons occupy the ceiling above visitors.
Another powerful work, Novecento, shows an exhausted horse suspended from the ceiling. For Botti, the animal represents the power associated with the 20th century and its eventual collapse: “Horses are always the symbol for nobility, for military, for winning. But here it’s the opposite. It’s weak. It’s exhausted.”
Outside the museum, a mechanical boy beats a drum on the roof in Never, a work inspired by Günter Grass’s novel “The Tin Drum”. This striking image can be interpreted as a warning or a call to wake up.
From Satirical Masterpieces to Dark Reflections
Cattelan has built his reputation on works that challenge conventional ideas about art, value, and taste. His best-known pieces include Comedian, a banana duct-taped to a wall, which sold for €5.2 million at auction in New York in 2024.
His infamous gold toilet, America, was stolen in 2019 from Blenheim Palace in England. The work was presented as a satire of excessive wealth and had previously been displayed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
While Cattelan is known for such provocative, high-value stunts, Night takes a darker and more contemplative approach. Its title refers to darkness and a time for reflection, while also suggesting the promise of a new morning.
The exhibition runs at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie until March 2027.
