New National Gallery

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

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.)

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.

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.

It has a good collection of contemporary art. How arts developed and changed with the political and ideology movements from 1900 till 2010 at least. You don’t need to wait long if you plan to buy your tickets there. There are close bus stops but the area has other museums and beautiful for walking.

Our friend, an architect, told us the history of this building, and it truly is a masterpiece. Inside, you’ll find various exhibitions that are a treat for the eyes. A particularly charming idea is the postcard machine—you press different buttons to choose postcards with little writing prompts. I decided to take some with me as souvenirs for my loved ones. And don’t forget to take a photo on your way out! There’s a retro photo booth, which makes for a fantastic keepsake.

A world class museum. I find it more satisfying than museums of modern art in Paris. I like the shows I saw: Yoko Ono, Gerhard Richter, Lygia Clark, Fujiko Nakaya. All wonderful.

A valuable and invaluable assets that make up the collection here exists beyond the pandemonium that dictates and determines the life of German culture and its strict bureaucratic structure of governance…. The fringe collapses on the names of painters rectifying the situation of perception that plagues a euro-centric modality of describing or dictating the human experience. This can be represented by the way feet move from place to place when they are walking from room to room to discover something strange that they didn’t know about themselves, reflected on depictions of human history and image-making. Every cabinet and doorway and brushstroke graced by light that descends through the eyes or down the back of the tongue continues to unravel a miraculous and peculiar flavor of transformation that can only be described as sensorially flabbergasting.

Neue Nationalgalerie has a very modern and geometric look, it's kinda like an impression what people could find in this glass hall. Unlike most of others museums in Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie museum just like its name, the exhibition here always contained the concept of new. I have been here serval times already, it's always surprised me and give me inspiration, I always could find a new reason to pay another visit. Most of the exhibitions here stay in these tones, modern, abstract, expression and bold. Most of them don't have much descriptions just the titles and years, which I think that's good, it actually allowed visitors to think and give meanings to the paintings and objects from their own perspectives. This is one of the main reason I like this museum. The museum usually has couple exhibitions happen at the same time. At the ground floor usually hold their main exhibition, at the basement also got one or two different exhibitions as well. At the moment, they are exhibit the "Sticks and Stones", which is inside the museum full of woods and two giant stonewall. For me, I found it really cool, very strong visual impact and deep message behind. As I read this is the last exhibition before the museum go under construction. The basement of the museums got other quite cool exhibitions as well, don't miss it. At the end, I like this museum a lot. It is one of my favorite museums in Berlin. As you may already know why, It also got a really great location, easy to find and get around. And surely, this is the best place for the people who like modern and abstract art to visit.

Not my favorite gallery. This is a very beautiful building, all the art has been stored away in the basement and the upstairs glass hall is used for.. Nothing? The gallery is quit expensive considering the size of it. Just browsing through will not take you longer than half an hour. That being said, the exhibitions are very much up to date, interesting and ever changing. I will definently go visit this place again.

I love modern art, so I definitely had to see this. The building itself is gorgeous, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. There is also plenty to be seen. Unfortunately the exhibit on the ground floor was in the process of being switched out so there was nothing to see there, but there was plenty in the lower level. Lots of gorgeous paintings by all of my favourite painters, even some interactive stuff (e.g. old Volksempfänger set up to play somewhat modern music) and creative usage of neon lights. One little hidden tidbit is on the wall near the cloak room: a sign dedicated to van der Rohe, with text and photos of various buildings he designed. A word of warning, though: better go within the next couple months, or you're out of luck. In 2015, the museum will close for three years to be renovated. As it is right now, everything can be seen, but then it will be closed to the public.

Museum and contents: 5 stars Building: 3 stars. Average at 4. Heresy, I know. Mies van der Rohe could never do any wrong.... and yet.... Starting with the permanent collection and amenities: Lots of win. A German oriented collection that you will find nowhere else - artists that don't tend to show up at MoMA and the like, juxtaposed with the ones you would expect. The show up now is 1900 - 1945, and starting in late 2011, post WWII. Sorry I might not get to see that one. The audioguide does a very good job of immersing you in the art, artists and the times in which they were created - an era of tectonic changes in German society. Well laid out (for the most part) although some of the gallery wall colors created a dimness that sucked the life out of some of the work. The only fail came in a dark red room hung gallery style - the room was too small for the work contained and 4 laminated pages with artist and title was impossibly limited on a weekday in October - I cannot imagine how much that room sucked when it was actually BUSY. The cafe had some tasty selections and wasn't too ridiculously overpriced (I expect to get gouged in a museum cafe - this was reasonable actually). The museum store was - well - uninspired. Books? Check. Postcards? Check. Yep. Thats It. Now: The building. Mies' swan song.... The plazas are unnecessarily huge and featureless. The upper level is a gigantic waste of space, and given the massive plate glass windows, utterly worthless for showing art. And would it hurt to put in a couple of benches to sit and contemplate the work? I have a leg thats not always in top form, and a few tens of thousands of square feet of open granite floor with not a bench in sight is part of my hate for Modernism. The buildings exist to satisfy the photographer and the architects' egos - and do nothing for those who will actually inhabit them. And then, word from the front desk that the sculpture garden is closed because the surface is unstable and unsafe. Hilarious actually. I figured it was a seasonal thing, and was loaded for bear to give them a piece of my mind.... only to discover its because the building is a piece of crap. I adore Mid-Century Modern buildings - but detest the lack of elements that allow the humans that inhabit them to be comfortable. Cool does not have to mean utterly spartan, no matter how cool it looks in Dwell. I'm sure many out there will disagree with me, but this building is just a big glass box. Maybe in its day it was groundbreaking... the upstairs just reminds me of an empty convention center... a big black ugly metal convention center.

Went here on a rainy afternoon with my friend Annemarie. It was a bargain price for students. Lots of interesting artwork with a great variety of genres. My favorite was the top floor! One of my favorite museums I've visited in Berlin thus far.

The building is amazing, a masterpiece... I'm in love!