In 1962 Van Der Rohe was commissioned to design a new museum to gather works of art of the twentieth century, confiscated by the Nazis during the war. The building of the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery in English) was opened in 1968 in Berlin, one year before the death of the architect, and was the first museum to be built in the area that then becomes the Kulturforum.

The building of the Neue Nationalgalerie is considered one of the masterpieces of modern tout court: it was built entirely of steel and glass, the exhibition space is located underground, while the ground floor is designed to store and temporary exhibitions. The glass walls of the New National Gallery will make that light penetrates into the building, so as to keep out the darkness. On the ceiling, built like a huge grid of dark metal, LCD screens are installed depicting abstract subjects that run throughout their length.

The ground floor of the Neue Nationalgalerie is often a venue for exhibitions of great success, like that a few years ago, brought the great masterpieces of the MOMA in New York. The basement of the Neue Nationalgalerie offers an excellent permanent collection, which goes from the Impressionists to the greatest artists of the twentieth century.

The New National Gallery in Berlin exhibit works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Giorgio De Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Louis Morris, Lucio Fontana to name a few.

Outside the building of the Neue Nationalgalerie, there is a sculpture garden, which houses a huge variety of works, both abstract and figurative. The most recent part of the collection found its location instead in the Hamburger Bahnhof contemporary art museum.

Opening of the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) in Berlin:

Tue-Sun: 10h00-18h00

Thursday open until 22

Closed Monday