A greedy pig is stuffed with money. "Marie Cochon," or Marie Pig, is the name of "performance artist" created by Nikolaus Eberstaller. The mobile installation travels through different countries and is now on show at the exhibition "Art Coins Money: MUSE MACHT MONETEN" at Berlin's Bode Museum.

Money is known to change people. Artist Will Kempkes also explored the concept of greed in this work. Inspired by the Greek myth of King Midas, who could change everything he touched into gold, a man's expensive watch transforms a woman's neck.

Many proverbs deal with money. This German one, "Der Teufel scheißt immer auf den größten Haufen," used as the title of Anna Martha Napp's work, literally translates as "the devil always shits on the biggest pile," and is the equivalent of the drier English expression "Money makes money." On her coin, the devil embodies the powerful art market, and artists are puppets.

This bronze medal by Wilfried Fitzenreiter shows a sculptor at work. The huge Damocles sword hanging above him, held by a thin thread, reads "Ateliermiete," which means the studio's rent. The work comments on the economic uncertainty that affected East German artists after reunification. They used to have a regulated income provided by the state before the Berlin Wall came down.

In 1993, Heinz Hoyer humorously criticized the market economy of reunified Germany. A German expression advises against running after money, and the title of this work twists it a bit: "Don't run after the fast Mark." The artist added a runner to the back of a Deutsche Mark, and Germany's former currency got its own set of legs. The runner will never quite reach the money.

Helmut King ironically advises people against buying his art. The artist created a currency called the Kretzer - the banknotes are decorated with different cartoon animals. Violence, sex and drugs are the artist's favorite themes, inspired by his idol Frank Zappa.

Many artists had financial problems after Germany's reunification. Some of them reacted to their difficult situation by making their own money. Anna Franziska Schwarzbach created this "paw coin" with the footprint of a cat on one side. The coin's head represents the wise Gorgo, Queen of Sparta, a figure believed to ward off disaster - turning the coin into a talisman.

The creative power of people is the real capital, declared performance artist Joseph Beuys. This capital allows them to act according to their own will and live democratically. With their creative abilities, people should shape and change society. Beuys wrote on different banknotes "Kunst = Kapital" (art = capital).

Every second spent looking at this painting of a sheep's head increases its value. A sensor at the bottom of the frame measures how much time people spend in front of the installation. Every 10 seconds adds 1 euro to its value, which is printed out as it increases. The installation reflects ironically the mechanisms of the art market.

In some cases, the fact that art makes money can support a good cause. In 1995, Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser was asked to redesign a school in Wittenberg, which he accepted to do free of charge. He also created this "building block," an art print depicting the redesigned school. The 5,000 copies of the print were sold for 150 DM each, providing additional money for the project.

This aluminum and glass medal is by Karin Dammers. The piece comments on society, money, art and power through its materials: Glass is a symbol for a transparent society and the metal frame and bars represent money, which both divides and stabilizes society. The exhibition "Art Coins Money: MUSE MACHT MONETEN" at the Bode Museum in Berlin runs through May 27, 2017.

A German saying actually recommends avoiding talk of money: "Über Geld spricht man nicht." Yet there are countless ways to avoid the taboo — using slang. If the Inuit mythically have 50 words for snow, the German expressions for cash are probably countless. One word is even related to snow: "Flocken," or flakes.

"Der Schornstein muss rauchen" — the chimney has to smoke — was an 18th-century German idiom reminding that money is needed to keep the house warm. There are several German terms for money related to combustible materials. "Kohle" is one of those most commonly used, along with "Asche," ashes. Coal was a scarce commodity during war times and became an informal means of payment.

The Yiddish word "kis," which means purse, could be mistaken with the German word "Kies" — small stones. That could explain why Kies became synonymous with coins, along with "Schotter," another word for broken stones, and simply "Steine" — stones. Let gravel jangle in your pocket next time you're broke, and see how it feels.

"Knete" is modeling clay, but it can also translate as dough. "Ohne Knete, keine Fete" — no party without dough. It appeared as a German slang word fairly recently in the 1970s, perhaps inspired by its long established use among students in English: A Yale fraternity publication already printed the term in 1851, mentioning "sufficient dough" as a way of avoiding "society's embarrassments."

There's a German saying, "Ohne Moos, nix los!" (Nothing happens without moss.) One might think this word became slang for money because of the dense green texture of these plants growing in shady locations: It's a metaphor which could work well for green US dollars. But the word actually derives from the Hebrew word for coins, "ma'oth."

Maybe the slang word "Moos" got confused with the similar-sounding word "Maus" — mouse — at some point. Pluralize that and it becomes "Mäuse." Yes, mice: A cute way to refer to cash in Germany.

What do frogs have in common with money? The term "Kröten" was already in use in the 19th century to designate small change. It sounds a bit like "Groschen" and "Groten," coins from the Middle Ages. The unsightly appearance of the creature could explain it referring to a miserable sum.

If the English say "from rags to riches," the Germans use those rags to show how rich they are: The word "Lappen" refers to those larger bills you can demonstratively slap on the counter. Lappen is also a slang word for a driver's license.

The tallest person on Earth can probably get rich by exploiting his unusual height, but in German, a "Riesen" also means one thousand (insert currency here). Its equivalent in English is a grand.

The term "Pinke" or doubled up as "Pinkepinke" derives from the Judeo-Aramaic language: Pinka was used in Slavic languages to refer to the "box for money paid by card-players to the innkeeper." A somewhat archaic term, it cannot be directly translated, but just like "cha-ching," it sounds like coins falling — hopefully in your own cash box.