THE GUARDIAN. By Kate Connolly in Berlin. Gemäldegalerie's estimated 3,000 works set to be relocated to a smaller, temporary space to make way for 20th-century art

It is one of the stormiest art world rows of recent times, pitching Rembrandt and Botticelli against Rothko and Beuys and angering art historians around the globe.

Plans to empty the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin of its Old Masters and fill it instead with 20th-century art have left cultural chiefs facing accusations of irresponsible neglect of what one critic described as the nation's family silver.

As part of a longstanding plan to re-establish Berlin as one of the world's most respected cultural centres, the Gemäldegalerie's estimated 3,000 works spanning five centuries are to be relocated to a much smaller, temporary space on Berlin's Museum Island complex to make way for a billionaire industrialist's private collection of surrealist and expressionist art, which he has donated to the nation on condition that it is put on display in its entirety.

Critics fear that the Gemäldegalerie's treasures are playing second fiddle to the 20th-century collection and will be put in storage indefinitely to be shown only in piecemeal fashion for the foreseeable future until they have their own dedicated space, which could take years.

A new building for the Old Masters' collection, which includes works by Brueghel, Vermeer, Dürer, Raphael and Caravaggio, has yet to be proposed, let alone financed and built.

Opponents accuse cultural chiefs of bowing to pressure from Heiner Pietzsch and his wife, Ulla, whose collection, valued at €150m (£120m) is described as an outstanding selection of classic modernism. It includes paintings by Mark Rothko, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí. The Pietzsches say they simply want to ensure their paintings do not end up in storage.

Read more