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Art in Germany: 10 critically acclaimed galleries you can’t miss

Summer may be nearly over, but that doesn't mean you have to hide away at home. Take a look at our top picks of the many great galleries Germany has to offer.

Published: 15 August 2019 14:42 CEST
Art in Germany: 10 critically acclaimed galleries you can't miss
The Berlinische Galerie. Photo: DPA

1. The Caricatura Galerie für Komische Kunst (Kassel)

A previous Caricatura exhibition. Photo: DPA.

Instead of trawling the internet for memes, why not head to the Caricatura to get your comedy fix. Since 1987 the galley has been turning the city of Kassel into a hotspot for comedy and satire in Germany by displaying caricatures, cartoons and comic strips which poke fun at current events and culture.

Through collections which change every five years, Caricatura has been supporting young comedic artists and presenting their talent to the world in their showcase of the best comic art Germany has to offer. 

2. The Bucerius Kunst Forum (Hamburg)

The Bucerius Kunst Forum. Photo: DPA.

The Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg is an international exhibition centre, characterised by its focused exhibition concepts ranging vastly in time and style. Having already featured artists such as Frida Kahlo and Picasso, their upcoming exhibit concentrates on the birth of the art market in the Golden Age of the Netherlands.

Following the careers of artists such as Rembrandt, Ruisdael and Van Goyen, the pieces have been carefully chosen to depict the influence commercialisation had on painting style due to the waning popularity of commissioned paintings. 

3. The Neues Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design (Nuremberg)
 
The Neues Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design. Photo: DPA.
 
Contrary to what this mouthful of a name suggests, the Neues Museum in Nuremberg is a demonstration of architectural simplicity. The unique curved glasses exterior houses, within its walls, works of art and design from the 1950s to the present day. Its impressive 3,000 square metres of exhibition space and ever-changing installations make it a worthwhile stop on any art tour of Germany.
 
4. The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden)
 
The Geldmäldegalerie Alte Meister. Photo:DPA.
 
Famous for its collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden displays numerous famous masterpieces including Raphael's “Sistine Madonna”, Giorgione's “Sleeping Venus” and Vermeer's “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window”. Its sheer number of recognisable artworks draws in more than 550,000 visitors a year, making it one of the most popular museums in Dresden.
 
5. Wallraf-Richartz Museum (Cologne)
 
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Photo: DPA
 
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne is one of the three major museums in Cologne. Its gallery has a collection of fine art ranging from medieval to early twentieth century and as the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger says, the museum “accommodates not only the world's largest collection of medieval painting but also the most extensive collection of Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist art in Germany”. 
 
The museum was the centre of a scandal in 2008 when one of their six Monet paintings turned out to be a fake. The other five, however, are still part of the museum's collection and open to viewing. 
 
6. MUCA (Munich)
 
 
The Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art in Munich is Germany's first urban art museum. Collector Christian Utz founded the museum in 2016 in an effort to expand Munich's street art scene. The collection includes work by Banksy, Shepard Fairy and OSGEMEOS and the building's front side (shown above) was designed by Stohead.
 
7. Alte Pinakothek (Munich)
 
The Alte Pinakothek. Photo: DPA
 
The Alte Pinakothek in Munich is one of three Pinakotheks and is one of the oldest galleries in Germany. It houses a large collection of works by 14th-18th Century Masters including works by Leonardo Da Vinci, Rafael and Rembrandt. It even houses the world-famous Dürer Self-Portrait. The building itself is also noteworthy as it was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria and its neoclassical style has been imitated by many galleries throughout Europe. 
 
8. The Camera Work Photo Gallery (Berlin)
 
 

A post shared by CAMERA WORK (@cameraworkgallery) on May 31, 2017 at 12:27pm PDT

 
Showcasing every possible style and genre, the Berlin Camera Work Gallery is your one-stop-shop for photographic art. Founded in 2001, the gallery hosts regular specialised exhibitions including the upcoming David Bowie Day exhibition focusing on portraits by numerous photographers of the Space-Oddity-Star. 
 
9. The Max Ernst Museum (Brühl)
 
The Miró Exhibition in the Max Ernst Museum. Photo: DPA.
 
You will probably have heard of Salvador Dali, but perhaps less so his German counterpart Max Ernst, whose surrealist works are much revered for their imagination and power. His unbridled creativity led to his experimentation with numerous mediums including collage, sculpture, poetry and, of course, painting. The museum, which is based in Brühl, 20 kilomtres south of Cologne, is also currently displaying the work of Joan Miró in the exhibit “World of Monsters”.
 
10. The Berlinische Galerie (Berlin)
 
The 'Letter Carpet” designed by Kühn Malvezzi in front of the Berlinische Galerie. Photo: DPA.
 
The former industrial hall became the new Berlinische Galerie in 2004 and its 4,500 metres of exhibition space contain collections of Dada Berlin, New Objectivity and eastern european Avant-Garde art and displays art of countless styles and periods within the modern era. The Berlinische Galerie is consistently considered one of the best german galleries and no tour of the german art scene would be complete without it.
 

ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

Published: 8 July 2023 10:13 CEST
African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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