Culture

An artistic beacon to lure visitors east of the Isar, Lothringer 13 is the type of contemporary art space that’s rare in the Bavarian capital. It’s one of just five municipal galleries in the city and, ever since it was converted from an auto-repair shop in 1980, still bears the hallmarks of its industrial past: the high ceilings and large steel doors lend it a character that many of the city’s art spaces lack. 

You won’t find many paintings here. Instead Lothringer 13 features photography, conceptual design and audiovisual installations across some four group exhibitions a year, all of which are centred on social topics. The team works to encourage a dialogue about art. “We try not to be anti – anti-hip, anti-established, anti-whatever,” says chief curator Jörg Koopmann. “Instead we take a curious professional approach to art and related fields.” This goal extends beyond the gallery’s calendar and into its modular café and events space Rroom, which regularly hosts concerts, lectures and symposiums. 

Four museums branch off from Pinakothek der Moderne’s 25-metre-high atrium, making it one of Europe’s largest centres for modern and contemporary art, architecture and design. At the Collection of Modern Art are works by heavyweights of the 20th-century art world, including Max Ernst, Joseph Beuys, Picasso and Dalí. Downstairs, the world’s oldest Design Museum, founded in 1907, is filled with Rosenthal porcelain, Dieter Rams appliances and Michael Thonet furniture. 

The Museum for Architecture of the Technical University of Munich stages changing exhibitions on urbanism, landscape and more. But its main collection is housed in the university itself and features 500,000 drawings by more than 1,000 architects. Alongside its exhibitions, the State Collection for Graphic Arts’ core archive is the most important of its kind in Germany. It contains some 400,000 sheets that cover all eras of drawing, dating back to the 12th century.

The House of Art is no stranger to controversy. It opened in 1937 to showcase what the Nazis believed to be Germany’s finest art. Following their defeat in the Second World War, a line of trees was planted to keep the museum out of sight – and out of mind. Obfuscated or otherwise, what’s clear is that the museum has gone on to achieve global importance. Its vibrant multidisciplinary programme showcases international contemporary art across about 10 exhibitions a year, from painting and photography to music and film.