Neue Pinakothek

The Neue Pinakothek carries a rare kind of museum survival story: it was built to separate the “new” from the “old,” lost its original building to the Second World War, and then had to be rebuilt—not once, but again—around a changing idea of what a museum should do.

A museum designed for “the new”

The impulse goes back to Ludwig I of Bavaria, who began collecting contemporary art already as crown prince in 1809, enlarging his holdings step by step. When the museum was founded, the aim was explicit: the separation from the old masters—kept in the Alte Pinakothek—was fixed to the period just before the turn of the 19th century. That decision became a prototype for many later collections. To stage this vision, Ludwig I had a dedicated gallery built. The first predecessor was erected on the site of today’s museum: the project commissioned by Ludwig I was designed by Friedrich Gärtner and August Voit, with the intention that it would be the first European museum for contemporary painting. That first building was completed in 1859—and the museum was intended to show the established schools of European painting.