The cornerstone of the Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank was laid in 1985. In the 1980s, despite the political division of Germany at that time, attention from the West was also directed at art in East Berlin and other art centres in the German Democratic Republic. Today, its focus lies on artistic developments in Berlin and Brandenburg. The continually expanding art collection features important movements and trends in German art after 1945.
True to its original motto, “Bilder vom Menschen” (images of people), figurative art continues to shape the collection’s thematic main emphasis. City views of Berlin are also present. The earliest works originate from the post-war period. Art from the 1980s and 1990s, created in a period of political upheaval in Berlin and Germany, is particularly well represented in the collection.