Ulrike von Kleist (1774–1849) has gone down in Heinrich von Kleist's biography as his "favourite sister", confidant and financial backer. She thus appears one-sidedly only from the brother's perspective. In order to change this, an exhibition is dedicated to her for the first time.

The exhibition presents Ulrike von Kleist as a 'whole' person – as a woman who was born 250 years ago and was by no means just the poet's sister, but also a landlady and citizen of the city of Frankfurt an der Oder, head of the contralto in the choral society, traveller, aunt and governess.

The framework of the exhibition is formed by the historical documents that bear witness to Ulrike von Kleist's life, including baptism and death records, entries in family registers, letters to her cousin and the city magistrate. In three chapters, they tell of her childhood, youth and sisterhood, her relationships in her home town and her position as an governess.

Get to know Ulrike von Kleist as a self-determined, enterprising woman beyond the fraternal shadow!

Curation: Barbara Gribnitz

Prologue film: Helene Haase, Ralph Pietschmann, Kira Senff

Design: Studio Neue Museen, Halle

The Kleist-Museum's collection is growing. In this collection presentation, we are showing you some of our museum's most recent acquisitions. Among others, we are presenting works by the artist Angela Hampel (*1956), who was already active during the GDR era, and the artist Michael Blümel (*1967).

Hampel's fascinating drawings for the drama "Penthesilea" and the story "Michael Kohlhaas" stand alongside ink drawings with which Blümel has artistically worked on, for example, a complete edition of the "Berliner Abendblätter" and first day covers of the Deutsche Post on Heinrich von Kleist. The works have been created since the 1990s and show a contemporary examination of Frankfurt's most famous son.

In addition, role portraits of a production of "Käthchen von Heilbronn" at the Meiningen Court Theatre from 1882 and a first edition of Caroline de la Motte Fouqué's novel "Das Heldenmädchen aus der Vendée" will be presented.