The major artwork by Hans Makart acquired for the Hamburger Kunsthalle in 1881, The entry of emperor Charles V into Antwerp (1878), not only counts as a scandalous work of his epoch but also represents a highlight of history painting. On 1 October 2020 the monumental 50-square-meters painting by the Vienna master painter that has not been on display since 2016 will come to light again.

Adjoining this work, sixty other 19th-century paintings and sculptures will move to the representative entrance hall to the galleries, which visitors can experience in an entirely new setting.

The assembled works lead us back to the founding years of the Kunsthalle, opened in 1869, and provide us with vivid impressions of the complexity and contradictory nature of the art from those days.