A Trip to the Pinakothek der Moderne

Munich is a city of museums. The first public art museum in Europe was opened in Munich by the Wittlesbach family in the early 1800’s. The Wittlesbachs ruled Bavaria from 1120 until 1918, and over a span of almost 900 years, collected a fabulous amount of art. The museums were established in order to house this treasure trove and to provide access to the public. There are three Pinakotheks in the museum district, just to the north of Odeonsplatz. These are the Alte Pinakothek (Old Picture Gallery), the Neue Pinakothek *New Picture Gallery), and finally the Pinakothek der Moderne.

If you would like more details, follow this link:

                 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinakothek_der_Moderne

 Admission to these museums costs only 1 euro ($1.50) on Sundays and, as you can imagine, this represents a great family event and means the museums are always full on this day. And why not for only $1.50! Such a great opportunity to see all the art in Munich. Here is a picture of Deborah in the lobby of the Moderne.

The special exhibit currently on display at the Moderne is the work of 16^th century Italian draftsmen who were drawn to Rome to pursue their talents. Some were portrait artists and some specialized in architectural renderings, many of which had a painterly quality to them that gave a soft, romantic feel to the buildings they portrayed. One of our favorite artists was Pietro Da Cortona. Two of the fabulous drawings we saw are shown below.

One part of this museum is a lighted wall of modern features, including chairs, cars ,sofas etc. Her you can see the wall and some of the modern items it contains.

As you would expect, the museum includes many very modern pieces of art. We came across the installation you see in the next picture. The floor was strewn with concrete objects that looked like granite pillars fallen from the walls of a quarry. Deb walked around the entire piece once, she being the only one in the room to do so. While she was there an older German gentleman came in, looked once, and then let out his opinion loudly in German. While I couldn’t translate, his tone and look told it all.

Later, we came across this crazy silver mirror, shaped in such an odd fashion. People were having a lot of fun with it. If you look closely you can see us in the center of the mirror. What, can't you tell it's us? I know for me, Mark, I have never looked slimmer. The kids in the museum truly loved this piece as your shape and image shifted as you walked around it. (You could even walk inside.)

The lower part of the museum contains this wall of modern artifacts. People enjoy sitting here to rest and look. It is a great collection point for people as they wander through the museum. Note the red “Sticky Fingers” lips on the far right. Also note the wooden model of the original Porsche, which is a mechanical piece from Porsche that is also now a true work of art.

Behind the exhibit wall is an collection of original vehicles that are now considered classics. You can see on the top shelf here a variety of very old VW’s, along with a few other very nice cars. Car manufacturing is big in Germany (as everyone knows), and they are proud of their heritage.The Citroen in the lower right corner (Deborah's favorite, for sure) drew particular attention. As we were admiring it, two men were looking in at the interior from either side. Deb had the thought to snap a picture of them and would have titled it "Men in Love," but they moved just at the wrong time. She did, however, manage to get this shot of Mark wishing he had purchased one of these cars many years ago when he'd had the chance.  

The Pinakothek der Moderne is actually four museums in one. Die Neue Sammlung, The International Design Museum, centers on the history of design. The vehicles you saw above are actually part of this museum. Walking on, we came to a basement FULL of furniture, home furnishings, and other cultural icons. (For instance, the first IBMs and MACs) For anyone interested in the birth of modern home furnishings and furniture, this part of the museum if a real gem.


For us, the chairs stole the show. Marcel Breuer, Josef Hoffmann, Ray and Charles Eames, Mies Van der Rohe are all represented here. We were like kids   seeing their original designs. But then, we came to the bentwood chairs by Michael Thonet. The variety was astounding. We didn't realize how prolific he was or how inventive. Probably like most people, we were familiar with his ice cream parlor chair which was, in fact, his most popular chair, but we were unprepared for the number of chairs we saw. It just kept going! 


Clicking on the next link will bring you to the tiered gallery of chairs and the website for the design museum.


http://die-neue-sammlung.de/munich/permanent-exhibition/bentwood-collection/?L=1


Some years ago, at an auction in Essex, Deborah had a chance to bid on a set of ten or twelve Thonet chairs, but having no truck, didn't bid. The auctioneer was aghast that no one understood their value. He was prepared to go as low as $100, but got fed up with the fools in front of him. By clicking on the next link, you can see part of the tiered gallery of chairs.


Here is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's chairs. 

Now, take a look at this next picture and see if you can guess what it is. 

It is funny to see this old General Electric toaster in Munich. This one was made in 1909; no safety features on this model. In Germany, Siemens is just like GE and you can buy a toaster, a freezer, a locomotive, or a power plant from them, just like the old GE in the US.