🎨 Art, Memory, and Saying Goodbye to Berlin

As heavy as Berlin’s past is, it’s also a city full of light — through art, resistance, and memory. I kept thinking about how the Berlin Wall became an open-air gallery. Instead of tearing it all down, they turned trauma into color, expression, protest. I love that energy. It’s like Berlin is saying, “We won’t forget — but we’ll keep moving.”

I wish I had more time — especially after coming home and learning that the Nefertiti Bust is housed right on Museum Island. That’s one of the most famous sculptures in the world! Next time, I’m doing a deep-dive museum tour — no rushing.

One painting I saw in the Alte Nationalgalerie, located on Museum Island in Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪, really drew me in — Émile Bernard’s Le Café (1913). I’m not even sure why it pulled me so strongly, but it did. There’s so much layered into it — beauty, spectacle, power dynamics, maybe even exoticism. It felt bold, dynamic, almost cinematic 🎞️. Definitely the kind of painting I’d hang in my own space 🖼️. A conversation starter, no doubt.

What struck me most was how unexpected it felt. I didn’t think I’d see a painting like this in a Berlin museum. And as a Black woman ✨, it made me smile — but also roll my eyes 🙄. These portrayals often come from a place of exoticism, a white gaze that reduced Black people to something performative or mysterious. Back then, Europeans didn’t truly appreciate Black identity — they consumed it, romanticized it, misunderstood it. And yet, despite that, the dancer in the painting didn’t feel passive. She had presence. She held her space 💃🏾.

Émile Bernard (1868–1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter who played a major role in shaping early modern art. He was closely connected to artists like Van Gogh and Gauguin, and helped develop Cloisonnism — a style known for strong outlines and flat areas of color 🎨. In his later years, Bernard spent time in Egypt and the Middle East, and Le Café reflects those experiences. Like many artists of his time, he fell into Orientalism — depicting non-European people and cultures through a romanticized and often distorted colonial lens.

That’s what makes Le Café so complex. On the surface, it’s vibrant and alive. But beneath the beauty is a reminder of how Black bodies were viewed — not as people, but as spectacle. Still, I didn’t leave the painting feeling erased. The dancer — though filtered through a colonial gaze — still had power. Even in a space where she was meant to be observed, she left an impression. She demanded to be seen, not just looked at 👁️.

So yes, while Berlin is still processing its past, it’s also a city that embraces change, creativity, and complexity. It’s modern and messy, artistic, and haunted, real and resilient. If you love history, art, and architecture, Berlin will absolutely feed your soul.

I’ll see you again, Germany — Munich and Oktoberfest are calling my name. 🍻🇩🇪