The Neue Pinakothek (, New Pinacotheca) is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with the Alte Pinakothek and the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Neue Pinakothek is part of Munich's museum quarter (Kunstareal).

The building

The Neue Pinakothek was completed in 1859 and was intended to be the first museum in Europe for the exhibition of contemporary paintings. The established schools of European painting were displayed. On the ground floor 1ß6 plaster busts of contemporary celebrities were also displayed. The building was redeveloped in the late 20th century. Designed by architect Alexander von Branca in the new style of Postmodernism, the building opened in 1981. It combines a concrete construction with a stone facade design.

Ludwig I of Bavaria began to collect contemporary art already as crown prince in 1809 and his collection was steadily enlarged. When the museum was founded, the separation to the old masters in the Alte Pinakothek was fixed with the period shortly before the turn of the 19th century, which has become a prototype for many galleries. Owing to the personal preference of Ludwig I, the museum initially had a strong focus on paintings of German Romanticism and the Munich School. Also dynastic considerations played a role, as Greece had become a secundogeniture of Bavaria in 1832. In 1834 Carl Rottmann traveled to Greece to prepare for a commission from Ludwig I for a cycle of great Greek landscapes. These works were installed in the Neue Pinakothek, where the paintings were given their own hall. The so-called Tschudi Contribution between 1905 and 1914 brought the Pinokathek an extraordinary collection of masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Hugo von Tschudi was dismissed by Wilhelm II, German Emperor as a penalty for his exhibiting of Gauguin's The Birth of Christ in Berlin's National Gallery. He became the director of the Pinokathek. As general director of the State Collections, Tschudi acquired 44 paintings, nine sculptures, and 22 drawings, mostly from emerging French artists. Since public funds could not be used to purchase these works, Tschudi’s associates raised the money from private contributions after his death in 1911. The space dedicated to painters of the Modernity was fixed at ca. 1900 by including Henri Matisse and Expressionism. Consequentially a painting of Matisse, which was part of the "Tschudi Contribution" ,is now displayed in the Pinakothek der Moderne. In 1915, the Neue Pinakothek became the property of Bavaria. In 1938 the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler confiscated a self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh, classifying the paintings as degenerate art.

Renovations

Since January 2019 the Neue Pinakothek has been closed for renovations. Originally, it was planned for the building to remain closed at least until 2025. The opening of the museum to visitors was delayed until 2029 in January 2022.

Collection

The museum is under supervision of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, which houses an expanded collection of more than 3.000 European paintings from classicism to Art Nouveau. About 400 paintings and 50 sculptures of these are exhibited in the New Pinakothek.

Gallery