DOI issue:
Nr. 1
DOI article:Locher, Hubert: The role of the museum in the formation of the art historical discourse
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52804#0018
examining it, Schlegel drew his own conclusions on
the basis of his differing theoretical and philosophical
background. He acknowledged the older, ‘primitive’
style of painting as truer, purer, and simpler. So, if
Denon’s display underlined the spécifie qualities of
the works exhibited, at the same time it was apt to
inspire new views.
It is known that Schlegel’s text was of crucial im-
portance to the German Romantic Movement. It was
widely read by artists and also by art historians like
Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Franz Kugler, and many
others. His text transformed a visual display into
a verbal discourse, and very probably this text inspired
the curators in the Altes Museum Berlin. But Schlegel’s
historical narrative remains an aesthetic Statement and
was understood by the romantic artists as such. This
proves to me that the museum as a social institution
has been a ‘discursive museum’ right from the start.
Only a few years ago, this discursive function of the
museum has been declared programmatically to be the
ideal of our present time.29 But the museum of art has
always had the potential to be such a place of discus-
sion — neither solely an archive, nor a mausoleum, but
a ‘forum’ of aesthetic expérience and critical discussion,
a place of creativity open to the present and to the fu-
ture. The museum is not only a place where art objects
are stored, it is itself an object for art history and a room
of performance of both art and art history.
29 NOEVER, Peter (Ed.): Das diskursive Museum. Osfildern : Hatje
Cantz Verlag, 2001.
16
the basis of his differing theoretical and philosophical
background. He acknowledged the older, ‘primitive’
style of painting as truer, purer, and simpler. So, if
Denon’s display underlined the spécifie qualities of
the works exhibited, at the same time it was apt to
inspire new views.
It is known that Schlegel’s text was of crucial im-
portance to the German Romantic Movement. It was
widely read by artists and also by art historians like
Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Franz Kugler, and many
others. His text transformed a visual display into
a verbal discourse, and very probably this text inspired
the curators in the Altes Museum Berlin. But Schlegel’s
historical narrative remains an aesthetic Statement and
was understood by the romantic artists as such. This
proves to me that the museum as a social institution
has been a ‘discursive museum’ right from the start.
Only a few years ago, this discursive function of the
museum has been declared programmatically to be the
ideal of our present time.29 But the museum of art has
always had the potential to be such a place of discus-
sion — neither solely an archive, nor a mausoleum, but
a ‘forum’ of aesthetic expérience and critical discussion,
a place of creativity open to the present and to the fu-
ture. The museum is not only a place where art objects
are stored, it is itself an object for art history and a room
of performance of both art and art history.
29 NOEVER, Peter (Ed.): Das diskursive Museum. Osfildern : Hatje
Cantz Verlag, 2001.
16