The Gallery of Contemporary Art opened in 1997 in an unusual cubic building next to the Kunsthalle. The architecture of the museum provoked heated debates. Today under the roof of the gallery are works by contemporary artists from the 1960s to the present day.
In 1937 the ruling Nazis classified more than 70 works from the Kunsthalle’s contemporary art hall as “degenerate art” and confiscated them.
The exhibition
The gallery collection includes more than 400 paintings and sculptures from the early 20th century to the present day. All trends in art of that time are represented. The gallery should be visited if only for the masterpieces of Klee, Kirchner, Emile Nolde and August Macke.
The Surrealists, Fauvists and Cubists are also represented in the museum – this collection is one of the ten largest in the world. And among the most significant are 14 works by Picasso.
The museum exhibition is as controversial and controversial as modern art, so it is better to come prepared, so the installations and the gallery’s rooms do not cause confusion.
Architecture
The Gallery of Contemporary Art was designed and built under the direction of architect Oswald Matthias in 1997. The museum building is a four-storey cube with a facade clad in light sandstone and completed with red granite panels on the ground floor. The gallery is connected to the main building of the Kunsthalle by an underground passage.
The Gallery of Modern Art moved out of the Kunsthalle when the collection of 20th century works of art grew and the need for a separate building became urgent.