Germany Guide
Munich
The Neue Pinakothek
Address: Barer Strasse
Opening time: Wed 10am–8pm, Mon & Thurs– Sun 10am–6pm
Price: €5.50
Website: www.pinakothek.de
The Neue Pinakothek picks up where the Alte Pinakothek leaves off, concentrating on art from the nineteenth century to Jugendstil. Like the Alte Pinakothek, it was founded under the auspices of King Ludwig I, but unlike its sister museum its destroyed buildings were not resurrected after World War II. Instead, a modern building was opened to house the collection in 1981.
The tour begins with art from around 1800, prominent among which are a number of canvases by Goya, before progressing to English painting of the era, including Gainsborough's lovely Portrait ofMrs Thomas Hibbert, Constable's View of Dedham Vale from East Bergholt of 1815 and Turner's Ostend of 1844. Much of the rest of the museum is given over to German art, including works by artists active at Ludwig's court, such as a view of the Acropolis by Leo von Klenze. Another architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, is represented by a copy of his fantastical Cathedral Towering Over a Town of 1830. More contemplative in tone are Caspar David Friedrich's Garden Bower of 1818 and his sensual Summer of 1807. Later works include Adolph von Menzel's Living Room with the Artist's Sister of 1847 – which shows that the great self-taught Prussian painter was at home with intimate, domestic scenes as he was with his big, official works – and Munich Beer Garden by the German Impressionist Max Liebermann, painted in 1884.
French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works include a Pissarro view of Norwood, a Portrait of a Young Woman by Renoir and Manet's Monet Painting on His Studio Boat of 1874, as well as one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. There are also several canvases by Cézanne and starkly contrasting works by the Austrians Klimt and Schiele.