DRESDEN.- The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden will display the painting ‘Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus’ by Angelika Kauffmann at the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw. The work will appear on loan there from 1 May to 30 July 2017 as the result of a partnership between the SKD, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, and the Royal Łazienki Museum. This exhibition of one painting was arranged under the honorary patronage of Rolf Nikel, German ambassador to Poland.

Statement by Marion Ackermann, Director-General of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden: ‘Angelika Kauffmann embodies the idea of Europe quite early in the 18th century in an exceptional manner. She was one of the most sought-after female artists of her time, was fluent in four languages, and felt equally at home in multiple countries. The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden thus gladly accepted the invitation of the Royal Łazienki Museum and the German ambassador to loan to Warsaw a painting by an artist whose life and work reminds us of our shared European cultural history and stands for cultural exchange and togetherness.’

The exhibition will begin with the ‘European Picnic’, a yearly public festival in which the Poles celebrate their country’s accession to the European Union. German ambassador Rolf Nikel, the director of the Royal Łazienki Museum Zbigniew Wawer, the director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle Christoph Martin Vogtherr, and the director-general of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden Marion Ackermann are all expected to appear at the festival.

The SKD and the Royal Łazienki Museum hope to implement further collaborative projects in the coming years, including exhibitions planned with the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, the Rüstkammer and the Münzkabinett of the SKD.

Angelika Kauffmann addressed the myth of Ariadne on numerous occasions in her oeuvre. The painting from Dresden shows the moment when Ariadne awakes on Naxos and notices in despair that she has been abandoned by her beloved Theseus. This image stands out among Kauffmann’s depictions of Ariadne for its drama and expressiveness. In Warsaw the painting will enter into a dialogue with Kauffmann’s ‘Portrait of Giuliana Pubblicola Santacroce as Lucretia’ (1791) from the collection of the Royal Łazienki Museum.