How to Enjoy the Modern Art Mueums of Berlin
Paris gets all the recognition, but when it comes to modern art movements, Berlin has quite a lot to offer. Home to the Bauhaus school and two art movements, Die Brucke and Dada, Berlin has quite a lot to offer the casual art-goer. Since the wall has been removed, an event that occurred almost twenty years ago, the city has been re-united and undergone a vigorous urban renewal and economic growth. As a result, the city has invested a lot of time and money, not only into the creation of a lively contemporary scene, but also in a preservation of the past. In Berlin you will find many places to view the ongoing development of modern art.
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Instructions
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Visit the Bauhaus Archives. The Bauhaus is Germany’s famous art school of the early 20th century that taught architecture, design and modern art. Today there is a very modern building that houses a display of things created at the Bauhaus. Both the exhibitions and building are a living testament to this very influential school that has become a synonym with modern design. The Archives is located near the downtown area near a picturesque canal. Visit their website for an example of state-of-the-art website design (see Resources).
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Die Brucke Museum, which in English means “The Bridge” is a small well-designed museum that built in the 60s, when the city was still divided. It is located in a small park on the west side of the city. You need to travel by local bus to get there, but the trip is worth it for the museum contains several galleries that show works of this noted group of artists that worked in Berlin before the First World War. The shows change on a regular basis, so there is always something different to see here.
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Visit the New National Gallery (Neue Nationalgalerie), which is located just a few blocks away from Potsdamer Square, one of Berlin’s most famous landmarks. This gallery was designed by one of the noted Bauhaus architects (Mies van der Rohe) and as a result the building is very unique and worth a visit just for that reason. There are two sections to this museum, the upstairs section that is above ground and also the downstairs section where most of the exhibitions take place. The shows are almost post-modern (art created since World War II).
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Visit the Museum For The Present (Museum Fur Gegenwart). This art space is expanding all the time. Located in an old train station called the Hamburg Bahnhof, this place houses huge galleries filled with some of the most innovative sculpture, painting and installations from the last twenty years. Recently, this art institution has acquired a very, large warehouse that practically adjoins the old train station. This acquisition was just the space the museum needed to add to their ever-growing collection.
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Visit the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum. Filled with modern paintings from the twentieth century, this place is an old classic building that exhibits paintings, sculpture and photographs by the modern masters from the twentieth century. Originally, an Italian Renaissance structure built to house a nineteenth century art school, this art museum hosts some of the best in International Art.
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Tips & Warnings
Berlin now has a Tourist Pass that offers good discounts on many of the museums.
Get a Metro transit map, so you can find your way around the city. All the museums except Die Brucke are located near a subway line.
Resources
- Photo Credit Henri Bauholz
