We walked from our hotel towards Potsdamer Platz, excited for our first stop in Berlin, the Neue Nationalgalerie. After taking photos of the exterior and writing down pertinent location info, I took a closer look at the door . . . and discovered that it was closed for three weeks! Ah, foiled! (No, we didn’t call in advance as we had been advised to do when dealing with still-in-the process-of-unification museums.) We made our way to the Gemäldegalerie instead, though, so it wasn’t a huge disappointment.
I would like to have seen their collection of 20th-century international paintings, however--it’s supposed to have a very strong assortment of German Expressionists and Surrealists (such as Beckmann, Mueller, Kirchner, and Klee). Non-Germans include Picasso, de Chirico, Leger, Wols, and Dali. Apparently this permanent collection is often put into storage when larger temporary exhibitions are displayed, so make sure to check what’s on before you go.
We did at least get to see the glass-and-steel cube-like exterior designed in the early 1960s by the famous Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe. It’s essentially a large steel box, with a heavy top and long glass windows on all sides. Since it was a drab day, the windows didn’t add much light, and the brown steel looked more . . . well, brown. The building looks a bit outdated, but if you’re an architectural fan it is still worth seeing. I don’t think it compares to the elegance of fellow Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius’ white modernist creation, however, which now houses the Bauhaus-Archiv. The inside is spacious and more impressive, but the downstairs area was closed.
Here are a few photos of the exterior, at least!
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