New National Gallery (Neue Nationalgalerie)

Amazing art with cool descriptions relating to how the different art movements correlated with periods of Cold War. The richters were awesome. Super cool if you’re into modern art but a little pricey. Coffee at cafe is good too. Gift shop underwhelming
Ramesh Narasimhan - 2 months ago

Very enjoyable experience, engaging and diverse, in addition a good museums shop with a good assortment of relevant literature. A beautiful small cafe, with an excellent coffee. Don’t miss the fog installation in the outdoor sculpture section of Fujiko Nakaya !
georg klammt - 2 weeks ago

Wonderful museum with big bright windows to light up the various paintings and sculptures. We went to see Yoko Ono: Dream Together and also got a general ticket for all of the other installations. Definitely a nice way to spend a rainy day.
Kit Solowy - 3 months ago

Although the Neue Nationalgalerie is not located on Berlin's famed Museum Island, it is truly phenomenal. The experience already begins upon arrival, with the striking skeleton of the modern and magnificent building. Upon entering, visitors are greeted—provided no exhibition is occupying the ground floor and no curtains obscure the space—by a vast and open hall. From there, two staircases lead down to the ticket counter, cloakroom, and the permanent collection. During my visit, the museum also hosted a temporary exhibition by Yoko Ono, which—contrary to my expectations—was surprisingly engaging and interactive. As for the permanent collection: it features an excellent array of renowned national artists such as Beckmann, Penck, and Förster, as well as numerous internationally celebrated figures and works, including pieces by Warhol, Picasso, Rothko, and Fontana. It is undeniably a place to be for enthusiasts of modern and contemporary art. In addition, there is the exquisite sculpture garden, which displays gleaming golden and silver sculptures beautifully situated among steam machinery, vegetation, and water features. It is impressively well-maintained. On the ground floor, there was also an outstanding exhibition of Lygia Clark’s work, offering a comprehensive overview of her oeuvre. It provided visitors the opportunity to engage with her art through touch, smell, sight, and even wearability—highlighting the participatory and sensory dimensions of her practice. Truly a gem within the international (modern) art community. A now-standard yet very practical tip for all museumgoers in Berlin: bring a one- or two-euro coin for the lockers. (You’ll get it back at all state museums.)
Ohayo TM - a month ago

In this review, I focus solely on the architectural form of the building—not on its function as a gallery or the exhibitions it hosts. In 1962, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who had been living in the United States for nearly 30 years, received a commission from his homeland without a competition: to design the Neue Nationalgalerie—a museum of modern art in West Berlin. The city authorities were willing to accept whatever he proposed. They didn’t even impose size constraints—he was free to choose the dimensions himself. The result was a two-level minimalist structure, with a glass “temple” above ground and the actual museum, complete with a garden, located underground. No fireworks, no embellishments, no decorations. At the time, it stirred some controversy and was even compared to a gas station. But once again, Mies van der Rohe’s genius was ahead of its time, and this structure eventually became an icon of Berlin and modern architecture. The construction was completed in 1968, just one year before Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s death. The Neue Nationalgalerie thus became a symbolic conclusion to the career of this German visionary. Between 2012 and 2021, the building underwent extensive renovation under the supervision of a contemporary architectural master—David Chipperfield. More than 35,000 original components of the building were dismantled, restored or repaired, and reassembled. As a result, the building now looks very much as it likely did shortly after it was first constructed.
Michał Breś - 2 months ago