Published on the occasion of the exhibition Le Musée Sentimental de Prusse at the Berlin Museum (Berliner Festspiele, 1981), this catalogue unfolds as an extensive, associative archive of objects, texts, and historical fragments. Conceived by Daniel Spoerri and developed with Marie-Louise von Plessen, the project departs from conventional historiography and instead assembles a “sentimental” topography of Prussia, where meaning emerges through anecdote, proximity, and the unexpected.

Rather than privileging canonical artifacts, the exhibition gathers objects charged with narrative and affect. Each entry operates as a fragment within a wider constellation, where personal memory and cultural history intersect. The catalogue reflects this structure: a dense compilation of references, quotations, and images that collectively construct an alternative mode of historical reading.

Marie-Louise von Plessen, a curator and cultural historian, has consistently worked on large-scale historical exhibitions, while Daniel Spoerri, a key figure of Nouveau Réalisme, extended his practice of object-based assemblage into the exhibition format itself. The Musée Sentimental remains a decisive model for exhibition-making, where curatorial logic replaces linear narration with a field of relations.

Details
Publisher: Frölich & Kaufmann, Berlin
Type: Exhibition catalogue

See also
“Musée Sentimental”, Centre Pompidou