Dioskuren – Der geschenkte Tag

The exhibition Dioskuren – Der geschenkte Tag (Dioscuri – The Given Day), presented in the staircase hall of the Neues Museum, offers a dialogue on the meaning of time, mortality and the connection between past and present. Contemporary art meets historical space, refers to ancient models and offers a modern adaptation of the classical reception of the myth of the Dioscuri, who walk eternally between death and life. The exhibition revolves around the painting Der geschenkte Tag (The Given Day) by Michael Müller.

The large-scale painting is based on the ancient Greek myth of the twins Castor and Polydeuces, who are known as the Dioscuri. The two unequal twins—sons of the beautiful king’s daughter Leda—were conceived in one night by different fathers. Castor by Leda’s husband, the Spartan king Tyndareos, and Polydeuces by the god Zeus, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. While Castor is mortal, Polydeuces’ father Zeus grants him immortality. The twins take part in the search for the Golden Fleece and in Heracles’ battle against the Amazons. When the mortal Castor was killed, Polydeuces asked Zeus to take away his immortality so that he and his twin brother could spend eternity together in Hades, the realm of the dead. Zeus, moved by the twins’ love that transcends death, gives Polydeuces the choice of remaining eternally young or spending one day with his brother in Hades, and one day on Olympus among the gods. Polydeuces chooses mortality and from then on, both brothers alternate daily between death and life.

Der geschenkte Tag, the large-scale artwork by the German-British artist Michael Müller, is based on the ancient Greek myth and picks up on its centrepiece, the twins’ bond that overcome death. The artist captures the recurring 24 hours of the brothers wandering through the worlds in a visually stunning artwork: from the bright day on Olympus, they both descend into the darkness of Hades. The artist painted each section exclusively at the corresponding hour of the day or night and thus experienced the repetitive journey himself.

The location for the presentation of this monumental artwork was deliberately chosen. The story of the Dioscuri, with their love for each other that overcame mortality, not only inspired artists in the ancient times. Even the classicism of the 19th century could not resist its appeal. Monumental figures of the twins taming their horses once stood in the staircase hall of the Neues Museum. They were casts of the originals from the Piazza di Monte Cavallo in front of the Quirinal Palace in Rome. Like large parts of the staircase itself, the sculptures were destroyed during the Second World War. Eighty years later, a modern adaptation brings this part of the building’s history back to life.

A special exhibition of the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, created and curated by Philipp Bollmann in collaboration with the Alien Athena Foundation for Art.

Photo: © def images