Munich's museums invite visitors to encounter the Old Masters and new young things. Almost all genres and epochs are represented. It is amazing what art can do: it brings colour to our lives, amuses us, irritates and rebels, relaxes and is sometimes simply beautiful. Here are some exhibitions that you'll definitely want to catch:
- Museums reopened in 2024
- The Old Masters
- From the 18th century to classical modernism
- Strong women, strong art
- Art in dialogue
- Architecture, design and handicraft
- Munich – a mecca for contemporary art
- Photo and video exhibitions
- Graphics and drawings
- Exhibitions at the Jewish Museum
- Exhibitions at the NS-Dokumentationszentrum
- Special exhibition at the Sudetendeutsches Museum
- Special exhibition at the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst (SMAEK)
- Science and Natural History exhibitions
- Exhibitions in the Munich environs
Summit pleasure in the big city: the Alpine Museum
The Alpine Museum on Praterinsel reopened at the beginning of March 2024 after a complete refurbishment. A newly designed permanent exhibition explains how people have been climbing mountains for centuries and the challenges involved. In annually changing special exhibitions, the museum also deals with current topics in alpinism, such as climate change. The library of the German Alpine Association is once again open to visitors, as is the archive with its historical treasures as a contact point for researchers and scientists. The museum café and the idyllic museum garden directly on the Isar are worth a visit in themselves. The garden will be redesigned as part of the renovation and is expected to reopen in autumn 2024.
Excavations from all over Bavaria: State Archaeological Collection
The State Archaeological Collection reopened its doors at the end of April 2024 following renovation and refurbishment. Founded in 1885, the collection now has five departments: Prehistory, Roman times, the Middle Ages and modern times, the Mediterranean collection and numismatics. In an exciting new presentation, the museum uses archaeological finds to illustrate the history of mankind from prehistory to modern times. Comics by Munich artist Frank Schmolke establish connections between the different epochs and contemporary events. When the weather is nice, the museum's rooftop bar near the Eisbachwelle will be the perfect place to relax in future.
Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Nature into Art, Alte Pinakothek, 26 November 2024 to 16 March 2025
Her magnificent, deceptively realistic floral still lifes with exotic plants and fruit, butterflies and insects already became sought-after and expensive collector's items during her lifetime. Demand was so great that the Amsterdam painter could afford to produce merely a few works a year. In general, she led an unusual life for a woman of her time. She was the daughter of the renowned professor of anatomy and botany, Frederik Ruysch, the first female member of the Confrérie Pictura guild of painters in The Hague, a court painter in Düsseldorf, lottery game winner and raised her eleven children at the same time. From November 2024 on the Alte Pinakothek will present the world's first major monographic exhibition of her work.
From Goya to Manet. Masterpieces from the Neue Pinakothek at the Alte Pinakothek, to 31 December 2024
Around 90 paintings and sculptures from the late 18th to the early 20th century will be exhibited under the title “From Goya to Manet”. This temporary relocation of masterpieces from the Neue Pinakothek to the Alte Pinakothek presents a unique opportunity to view the most famous paintings from both museums under one roof.
Liliane Lijn. Arise Alive, Haus der Kunst, 5 April to 22 September 2024
"Arise Alive" is the first institutional solo exhibition of this scale in which the artist Liliane Lijn, born in New York in 1939, presents her paintings, drawings, sculptures, films and installations. The exhibition focuses on her sculptural works from the 1980s as well as an overview of her oeuvre with works from the late 1950s to the present day. Influenced by the second wave of feminism and her own experiences as a woman, Lijn has increasingly focussed on the human form and the female body. In her sculptures from the 1980s, the artist depicts futuristic and feminine archetypes that are part machine, part animal and part plant, made from soft feather dusters, synthetic fibres and industrial materials. These works reflect her ongoing exploration of a new female form.
Cao Fei. Meta-mentary, Lenbachhaus, 13 April to 8 September 2024
Cao Fei (b. Guangzhou, 1978) lives and works in Beijing. In her films, photographs, and walk-in multimedia installations, she addresses the economic and social changes of our time. Digitalization, globalization, the transformation of urban and suburban structures and thus our living spaces are at the heart of her art. For her works, Cao Fei herself sometimes spends time in the virtual community using her avatars China Tracy and Oz and documents her perception of digital realities in individual imagery and distinctive artistic spaces. Invention and reality, the fantastic and the documented, the digital and the human combine to create surreal, dystopian images and individual aesthetics that can be experienced by the public.
Rebecca Horn, Haus der Kunst, 26 April to 13 October 2024
This major retrospective presents an overview of the life's work of the internationally renowned artist, who was born in Germany in 1944, spanning six decades. At the centre of the comprehensive exhibition is the performativity that runs through Rebecca Horn's oeuvre, from her first works on paper in the 1960s to the performances and films of the 1970s, the mechanical sculptures of the 1980s and the expansive installations of the 1990s to the present day.
Muse. Luca Pignatelli in the Glyptothek, Glyptothek, 17 May to 1 September 2024
With "Muse", the Glyptothek is presenting the first solo exhibition in a German museum by Milanese artist Luca Pignatelli, one of Italy's hottest contemporary artists. For the exhibition in the Glyptothek, with its world-famous marble sculptures, Luca Pignatelli has selected works that mostly depict images of ancient goddesses, rulers or mythological figures.
These modern creations are the result of careful reflection on tradition and the past and now enter into a dialogue with the original witnesses of artistic perfection from the bygone world of the Greeks and Romans. The combination of serenity and melancholy, classicism and modernity, beauty and grace creates a feeling of eternity and infinity.
The Blue Rider. A new language, Lenbachhaus, until March 2025
With a selection of around 250 works, including paintings, prints, reverse glass paintings, photographs and sculptures, the exhibition takes visitors from the turbulent period around the turn of the century to the middle of the 20th century. Numerous works have not been on display for a long time, such as the works of Paul Klee and the dynamic abstractions of Wassily Kandinsky from 1914, while recent acquisitions by the Lenbachhaus Förderverein are presented for the first time, including works by Franz Marc, Maria Franck-Marc and the artist Moissey Kogan, who was persecuted and murdered under National Socialism.
The new presentation also includes a curated library and film section. The former brings together literature that addresses discourses and themes relevant to Der Blaue Reiter: In addition to theoretical approaches to the concept of abstraction and its relationship to the "Great Spiritual" invoked by Kandinsky, this also includes socio-historical issues such as the Blue Rider's relationship to "exoticism" and colonialism. Contemporary films, which as a still young medium at the time also endeavoured to find a new language and were therefore also influential for artists such as Münter, complement the exhibition.
Glamour and History. 40 years of P1, Haus der Kunst, 21 June 2024 to 23 February 2025
To mark its 40th birthday, the Haus der Kunst is dedicating the exhibition "Glamour and History. 40 Years of P1", which is based on archive material and offers an immersive experience. Visitors are invited to share their personal stories and memorabilia about P1 to enrich the exhibition.
P1 is one of the few clubs, if not the only nightclub, that shares a roof with an art exhibition centre in inspiring coexistence. To this day, it is an integral part of international club culture and a place of longing for different generations. Since its reopening in 1984, P1 has been a permanent fixture on the German club scene and has hosted numerous legendary events. These include Whitney Houston's first concert in front of a European audience and a party for Tina Turner at which fake Deutschmark notes rained down from the ceiling.
Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Party of Life, Museum Brandhorst, 28 June 2024 to 26 January 2025
With over 120 works, Museum Brandhorst owns the largest Warhol collection outside the USA and a considerable number of works by Keith Haring. With “Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Party of Life“, the museum is presenting the world's first comprehensive institutional exhibition dedicated to both artists. It shows over 120 works from their oeuvre, including collaborations between the two as well as works created in exchange with other artists, performers, authors or music and fashion icons of the 1980s. A time characterised by MTV, discos, voguing, hip-hop, new wave and graffiti. In addition to key works, “Party of Life“ also focuses on film and photo recordings, archive material and posters, records and everyday objects designed by the artists.
Instrumentalized!, Rathausgalerie, 8 June to 18 August 2024
The exhibition "Instrumentalized!" by Beate Engl, Justin Lieberman and Pancho Schlehhuber shows an expansive installation in the Rathausgalerie with a prepared pianola that works without human operation. This unusual apparatus is "programmed" with a paper music roll whose punched-out dots depict a star map of the night sky. At the same time, a light source projects the constellations into the room through the perforated paper roll. Visitors to the exhibition can set this process in motion by inserting a coin. The result is a superimposition of light effects in the room and a sound reminiscent of the abstract compositions of the early 20th century.
The Bicycle. Cult Object - Design Object, Pinakothek der Moderne, until 22 September 2024
For the first time, the exhibition at the Pinakothek der Moderne focuses on the subject of bicycle design. On display are 70 examples of some of the most unusual and exciting bicycles in the history of design.
The fact that bicycle design is not only the art of craftsmanship and frame building, not only the work of ingenious inventors, tinkerers, obsessives and enthusiasts, is proven by the numerous designs of aircraft and automobile engineers such as Paul Jaray, Hermann Klaue or Alex Moulton as well as industrial designers, including Luigi Colani, Richard Sapper, Michael Conrad, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Marc Newson, Christian Zanzotti or Ross Lovegrove.
Martino Gamper. Sitzung, Haus der Kunst, 28 July 2023 to 27 October 2024
Italian designer Martino Gamper's playful new work “Sitzung“ will transform the central hall at Haus der Kunst into a new, ever-evolving social space. As artist-in-residence, Gamper will design a series of newly designed chairs, an evolution of his acclaimed long-term project “100 Chairs in 100 Days“. During the runtime, the chairs will be rearranged by visitors and the staff at will - to gather, rest and play. (The picture for the exhibition is the cover picture of the whole article “Lust auf Kunst“)
Viktor & Rolf. Fashion Statements, Kunsthalle Munich, 23 February to 6 October 2024
In the first retrospective in the German-speaking world, Kunsthalle München is showing around 100 creations by the artist duo Viktor&Rolf from 23 February to 6 October 2024. The self-confessed outsiders of the fashion world have made a name for themselves with their unconventional approach to design, their technical perfection and their extensive knowledge of fashion and art history. Their creations have been worn by artists such as Madonna, Tilda Swinton, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Doja Cat and Cardi B, as well as staged in ballet productions and an opera directed by Robert Wilson.
The exhibition is divided into nine chapters that take up central themes in Viktor&Rolf's work and shows pieces from the designers' own archive as well as from private collections. A selection of handmade porcelain dolls by the two artists will also be on display, as well as animated projections by the multiple Oscar-winning visual effects studio Rodeo FX.
Renaissance Dream Vessels. Ship Goblets and Seafaring around 1600, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, 25 April to 1 September 2024
Ship-shaped drinking vessels and centrepieces are among the most extraordinary creations of the goldsmith's art around 1600, telling a detailed story of courtly and patrician dining culture as well as shipbuilding and seafaring. They are symbols of a time of early globalisation and colonisation. With works of craftsmanship, paintings, prints, manuscripts, maps and navigational instruments, the exhibition shows the most common types of ships and the most sought-after trade goods of the time.
Beguiling beauty. Chinese reverse glass paintings from the Mei-Lin Collection, Museum Fünf Kontinente, 21 June 2024 to 19 January 2025
Reverse glass paintings, in which the motif is painted on the back of a glass plate, impress with their vibrant colours and lasting brilliance. Painting behind glass emerged in China in the 18th century after glass plates, mirrors and oil painting were brought to China from Europe as new materials and techniques. European designs were transferred to glass in great detail, and Chinese landscapes, birds and flowers, mythological figures and everyday scenes were captured behind glass just as skilfully as the ‘pictures of beautiful women’ (meiren hua), which are the focus of the exhibition.
The reverse glass paintings created between the early 19th and mid-20th century, which are presented in ‘Beguilingly Beautiful’, show ‘beautiful women’ in elegant settings. Seventy of the works on display come from the renowned Mei-Lin Collection. The reverse glass paintings are accompanied by textiles and accessories from the collection of the Museum Fünf Kontinente that are similar to those in the paintings.
Jugendstil. Made in Munich, Kunsthalle München, 25 October 2024 to 23 march 2025
Around 1900, young visionary artists in Munich set out to revolutionize art and to reform life. Facing a time of rapid scientific as well as technical innovation and social upheaval, they joined the quest for a fairer and more sustainable way of life. Artists such as Richard Riemerschmid, Hermann Obrist, and Margarethe von Brauchitsch turned their backs on historical styles to create a new art that permeated life down to the smallest detail. Their ideas formed the foundation for modern art and design. With examples from painting, graphic art, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and fashion, the exhibition sheds light on Munich’s role as the cradle of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) in Germany and demonstrates how topical the issues of life discussed back then still are today.
Kunstlabor 2, Kunstlabor 2 of the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), from 26 October 2021 for five years
Situated in the Maxvorstadt district and located in a former health centre, Kunstlabor 2 spans some 10,000 square metres over six floors. The building was transformed into a new centre for art and culture as a temporary project by the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA). A particularly exciting point for lovers of street art and urban art to note is that two of the six floors have been – and continue to be – transformed into a walk-in work of art by more than 100 artists.
Those involved include household names such as Loomit and rapper Samy Deluxe, but also newcomers such as Pepe (alias Jose Luis Villanueva Contreras). In addition to the permanent room installations and changing exhibitions, the centre offers an extensive framework programme including guided tours, workshops, film days, concerts, readings, labs, performances and many other cultural highlights. The operators of Kunstlabor 2 offer the façade to artists to use as a design platform, legally and free of charge.
Fragment of an Infinite Discourse. Contemporary Art from the Lenbachhaus, the Jörg Johnen Donation and the KiCo Foundation, Lenbachhaus, from 28 June 2023
The exhibition shows works from the collection of contemporary art by Jörg Johnen, parts of which the Berlin collector and former gallery owner is donating to the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich. The collection consists of 64 works by 26 artists, including works by Maria Bartuszová, Katharina Fritsch, Prabhavathi Meppayil, Wiebke Siem, Mario García Torres and Jeff Wall.
“Fragment of an Infinite Discourse“ is the title of an artwork by Mexican conceptual artist Mario García Torres. Three glass rings interlock without touching. The work is the prelude to the exhibition and illustrates its programme. It shows how subtly and at the same time indissolubly things are connected to each other and stimulates different associations, sensations and interpretations. Quite vividly, the rings as geometric elements indicate the infinite circular form. The title of the exhibition is therefore intended to represent the abundance of conceptual positions and at the same time open up the multiple possibilities of interpretations and perspectives.
House of Banksy – An Unauthorized Exhibition. The largest exhibition of the artist's art to date, B-TWEEN (formerly Galeria Kaufhaus am Stachus, from June 14, 2024
Over 200 works by the anonymous artist Banksy will be shown on 2300 square meters in the basement of the former Galeria Kaufhaus am Stachus. As many of his works, which include graffiti and street art, have been destroyed in the original or cannot be authorized by the artist, the exhibition consists of reproductions of various sculptures, photographs and video installations. What is particularly exciting here is that the graffiti, which is sprayed live by renowned artists, can be experienced and the socio-political message of his work can be felt at first hand.
Banksy deliberately does not take center stage himself, but uses his art to denounce social injustices and social grievances. This empowers many, provokes others, but on the whole he primarily encourages reflection. "Banksy is making history with his art - the history that is a reality for us right now. The exhibition is a must-see for anyone who likes to engage with art, politics, world affairs in general and, above all, themselves and has a sense of bitter-sweet irony," summarizes curator Virginia Jean.
Damien Hirst. The Weight of Things, Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), from 26 Oktober 2023
For the first time in Germany, some of Damien Hirst's most iconic works are on show at MUCA in a major survey exhibition. The exhibition entitled “The Weight of Things“ shows more than 40 works from 40 years of the artist's career. The exhibition includes installations, sculptures and paintings, some of which have never been seen before, as well as some of Hirst's most iconic series including Natural History (Formaldehyde Sculptures), Spin Paintings, Medicine Cabinets, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, Cherry Blossoms as well as his Spot- and Butterfly Paintings.
“The Weight of Things“ features among other things marble and bronze sculptures and light boxes from the Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable series, which was first exhibited at the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi in Venice in 2017. These works are based on an invented legend about an ancient shipwreck and interweave fact and fiction. The Cherry Blossoms series reinterprets the traditional theme of landscape painting with playful irony. Hirst combines thick brushstrokes and elements of gestural painting, drawing on Impressionism and Pointillism as well as Action Painting.
Orhan Pamuk. The Consolation of Things, Lenbachhaus, 18 May 2024 to 13 October 2024
Orhan Pamuk (born 1952 in Istanbul) – the first Turkish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature – presents his multifaceted, creative work as an author, photographer, illustrator, curator, museum founder and important political voice of our time at the Lenbachhaus. The exhibition is based on the novel “The Museum of Innocence“, published in 2008, in which Pamuk tells the story of Kemal, a rich middle-class man who, after the tragic end of his love affair with his poor cousin Füsun, collects everyday objects that remind him of his beloved.
Pamuk actually opened a very real museum in Istanbul in 2012 under the name “Museum of Innocence“, which displays finds and artefacts from this fictional love affair. The objects also reflect daily life in Istanbul between the 1950s and the 2000s – and therefore also current affairs, gender roles and contemporary cinema. On display in Munich's Lenbachhaus are 41 cabinets from Pamuk's Istanbul “Museum of Innocence“, which the artist has recreated for this travelling exhibition.
New works have also been created especially for the exhibition, in which the Nobel Prize winner engages with the Lenbachhaus collection and artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Alfred Kubin.
Alex Katz. Portraits and Landscapes, Museum Brandhorst, 22 March 2024 to 16 February 2025
Alex Katz has donated two paintings to Museum Brandhorst. An early work from 1958, showing the painter and sculptor George Ortman, and a recent, very personal double portrait of his wife Ada and his son Vincent. To mark this generous donation, Museum Brandhorst is presenting the exhibition “Alex Katz: Portraits and Landscapes,” which, in addition to the two new acquisitions, also presents the rich inventory of work by the artist held by the Brandhorst Collection.
Walk the Line, Pinakothek der Moderne, 14 June to 8 September 2024
With the motto "Walk the Line", the Modern Art Collection presents six exhibitions in six rooms, which show different artistic paths into abstraction. Line, gesture and the question of material serve as creative starting points. Just how multifaceted these paths can be is revealed through selected positions from different areas of the collection and collaborations, which include painting and photography, drawing and sculpture: Balancing acts that move formally between representationalism and abstraction and at the same time explore the critical potential of unconventional lines.
Eccentric. The aesthetics of freedom, Pinakothek der Moderne, 25 October 2024 to 27 April 2025
In common parlance, an eccentric attitude is considered to be extravagant and decadent. But eccentricity is much more. Because it refuses any ideology – for the freedom of democracy. This is the basic idea behind the first exhibition on the potential of eccentricity as an aesthetic of freedom. The focus is on art from 1980 onwards, but fashion, design, film and architecture are also included in an exemplary way. Eccentric celebrates the diversity and complexity of the great themes of nature, beauty, intimacy and humanism. The exhibition features paintings, sculptures, installations and video works by John Bock, Maurizio Cattelan, Marguerite Humeau, Jonathan Meese, Pipilotti Rist, Anna Uddenberg and many other international artists.
Close Enough, Kunstfoyer, 24 April to 21 July 2024
Against the backdrop of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Magnum agency in 1947, the exhibition ‘Close Enough’ shows works by thirteen female Magnum photographers, some still unknown, some established, whose different points of view currently characterise the photographic perspectives of the photo collective. The challenge formulated by Robert Capa, co-founder of Magnum, to get ‘close enough’ as a photographer is reflected in the personal insights into their perspectives, to which the photographers invite the audience. Questions of physicality, war, violence, sexuality, religion, racism, belonging and ageing are addressed.
Rineke Dijkstra. The Krazy House, Espace Louis Vuitton, 3 May to 14 September 2024
The Espace Louis Vuitton Munich is showing the video installation The Krazy House (Megan, Simon, Nicky, Philip, Dee) Liverpool, UK (2009) by Dutch artist Rineke Dijkstra. In this work, Dijkstra deals with the exploration of adolescence. She asked five young people to dance to their favourite music on the floor of a Liverpool nightclub in a specially equipped studio.
Encounters. Artistic Perspectives on Cinema, Deutsches Theatermuseum, 3 July to 8 September 2024
On the occasion of the Munich Film Festival, the Sammlung Goetz, in cooperation with the Deutsches Theatermuseum, is presenting 19 films by artists who take up the aesthetic strategies of cinema. Using innovative techniques and experimental narrative forms, the works on show offer a multi-layered exploration of the medium of film. In order to experience the full range of artistic perspectives, an extensive, changing programme has been put together. The presentation takes place in the specially designed cinema room. The reading lounge in the cinema lobby invites visitors to find out more about the artistic positions on show.
The forgotten sultanas. Stories with wit and love by e.o. plauen, Valentin-Karlstadt-Musaeum, 25 April to 17 September 2024
Who doesn't know the picture stories by e.o. plauen about the unshakeable complicity between father and son, the cheeky little boy with a black mop of hair and his seemingly strict, very loving father? Less is known about the author, however. The exhibition takes a closer look at Erich Ohser, who gave himself the artist's name e.o. plauen, and shows a selection of his work.
Paula Scher. Type is Image, Pinakothek der Moderne, 23 June 2023 to 22 September 2024
Paula Scher (born 1948) is the internationally most influential and most successful graphic designer of her day. Her ideas have inspired generations of designers and have become icons of graphic design. The artist puts type, in other words typography, at the center of her works. With “Paula Scher: Type is Image” Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum is presenting the artist’s first solo exhibition in Germany.
From her early award-winning album covers of the 1970s through her many years of work for the New York Public Theater and corporate identity commissions such as the one for Microsoft Windows 8 and on to her most recent works on hand-painted maps the entire spectrum of her work will be on show in the form of outstanding designs. With “Paula Scher: Type is Image” Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum playfully showcases the comprehensive and diverse work of this graphic designer in a newly developed space-related staging.
Picture Stories. Portraits of Munich Jews, Jüdisches Museum, 15 Mai 2024 to 2 March 2025
A boy in a sailor suit, a lady in a beret and with huge puffed sleeves, a rabbi with an open prayer book. In its exhibition entitled “Picture Stories. Portraits of Munich Jews,” the Jewish Museum Munich shows well-known and forgotten faces and asks: Who had their portrait painted by whom?
How did they want to be seen? What kind of person did they want to represent? The works from the 19th and early 20th centuries tell of the self-image of Jewish families in Munich and their contribution to urban society up until their persecution by the Nazis, and reveal the diversity of Jewish identities. Many of the portraits in Munich and the stories behind them have long since been forgotten.
Far-right terrorism, conspiracy and radicalization. 1945 until today, Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, 18 April to 28 July 2024
Using local, regional and international examples, the ongoing right-wing terrorist threat from the past to the present is made visible and historically located - including the Oktoberfest attack of 26 September 1980 and the attack at the Munich Olympic shopping centre on 22 July 2016.
It becomes clear that right-wing terrorism is not a temporary and local phenomenon of the present, but a constant companion of German and international history. The consequences of right-wing terrorist violence for those affected by it also become clear - mourning for the dead and injured, trauma and the painful struggle to recognise what has been suffered.
Oskar Schindler - bon vivant and lifesaver, Sudetendeutsches Museum, June 7 to October 27, 2024
The Sudeten German entrepreneur Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) and his wife Emilie saved 1,200 Jews from the Nazi extermination camps. This extraordinary act of humanity and civil courage only became known to the general public through the 1993 feature film "Schindler's List". To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, the Sudetendeutsches Museum is dedicating a special exhibition to Oskar Schindler that sheds light on his rescue operation and presents the life of a charismatic but contradictory man. At the center of the exhibition are Schindler's famous lists - for the first time, the original two-page list from January 29, 1945 will be presented to the public.
Operation Finale. The Capture and Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, 24 November 2023 to 4 August 2024
The exhibition shows how the Israeli secret service Mossad and the Hessian Attorney General Fritz Bauer tracked down Adolf Eichmann, one of the most notorious perpetrators of the Holocaust, in Argentina in 1960, how his abduction to Israel was carried out and how he was finally tried. It was the first major trial in which victims of the Holocaust testified to the world public about the crimes of the Nazis. The exhibition “Operation Finale“ originates from Israel and the USA and is brought to Germany for the first time by the Adolf Rosenberger GmbH and the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst (State Museum of Egyptian Art). It is a multimedia exhibition with short films, photographs and exhibits that transport visitors directly back to the scene of the trial in the early 1960s.
Mumkin Sura? Egypt 1983. Photographs by Dirk Altenkirch, Staatliches Museum für Ägyptische Kunst, 14 May to 20 October 2024
The Staatliches Museum für ägyptische Kunst is showing photographs by Dirk Altenkirch from 14 May 2024. The exhibition integrates over 80 black and white photographs into the museum's permanent exhibition in an unusual way. The respectful question ‘Mumkin Sura?’ (‘Is a photo possible?’) is representative of the reciprocal interaction between photographer and portrait subject and accompanied Dirk Altenkirch on his journey through Egypt in 1983 like a fixed sentence. The photographs and portraits from his stay of several weeks provide rare and unique insights into the everyday life of people off the beaten tourist track, which has changed very little to this day.
19 completely new permanent exhibitions on Museumsinsel, at the Deutsches Museum from 8 July 2022
The first phase of the extensive modernisation of the Museumsinsel building is complete. Now there are 19 completely new permanent exhibitions to explore on the 20,000-square-metre site. The diverse list of themes covered ranges from atomic physics to agriculture; from chemistry to bridges and hydraulic engineering; and from aeronautics and space travel to health.
A number of major masterpieces are on display, such as the first diesel engine, the Siemens electronic music studio, the Helios space probe and the famous/infamous Enigma code machine. You can get a first glimpse of the departments after the renovation here.
In addition, there are also several new Deutsches Museum acquisitions to admire, such as the groundbreaking Sycamore quantum processor and the first approved coronavirus vaccines. A wealth of interactive demonstrations, accessible exhibitions, virtual reality and augmented reality experience rooms and numerous media stations bring technology and science to life and make them tangible in the truest sense of the word.
“Light and Matter“, Deutsches Museum, since 19 June 2024
The special exhibition “Light and Matter“ at the Deutsches Museum shows quantum optical phenomena and makes them understandable through interactive stations and artefacts. It demonstrates how the interaction between light and matter has developed over the last hundred years and provides insights into current research and future applications.
As a part of the Munich Centre for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), the exhibition includes historical experiments such as the double slit experiment and technologies such as lasers and quantum computers. Visitors can experience quantum physics procedures through hands-on stations and scenarios. In addition, important scientific findings and their social, economic and political impact are also presented.
The exhibition is divided into five sections and will become part of the new permanent exhibition Physics after its run until the end of 2025.
Skeletons. Choreographers of movement, Museum Mensch und Natur, 22 March 2024 to 27 April 2025
The Museum Mensch und Natur is showing a special exhibition dedicated to the skeleton and the bones from which it is made on over 400 square metres. From the shrew to the hippopotamus and from the parrotfish to the owl, a wide variety of skeletal specimens are presented and X-ray films show how dynamically the seemingly rigid skeletal structures operate.
In addition, a large part of the exhibition is dedicated to the topic of "bones". Among other things, the internal structure of bones is shown, the constant processes of formation and degradation are explained and bone diseases are analysed.
Exhibitions of the MuSeenLandschaft Expressionismus, Museums in the Upper Bavarian Alpine foothills
The extraordinarily attractive landscape of the Upper Bavarian Alpine foothills stretches between Munich and the Alps. In the early 20th century, the young Expressionists from Munich came here to capture nature in powerful colours and forms. Emil Nolde and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner were here before they became members of the Dresden artists' community “Brücke“. The artists of the Blauer Reiter (Blue Rider) Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc, Alexej von Jawlensky and Heinrich Campendonk had particularly close ties with the region.
In the “MuSeenLandschaft Expressionismus“, experiencing nature and enjoying art enter into a unique combination: The Buchheim Museum of Fantasy attracts people to Starnberger See (lake) with its world-famous Expressionists; in Kochel am See, the Franz Marc Museum offers exquisite art experiences around its namesake; at Staffelsee, the Murnau Castle Museum attracts visitors with the “Blue Rider“ and Gabriele Münter; near the Osterseen, the Penzberg Museum draws attention with Campendonk, and in Munich, the world's largest collection of works by the “Blue Rider“ can be seen in the Lenbachhaus. Under the theme of the year: “Strong women – artists, muses, makers“, the participating museums invite you to experience and/or rediscover the museums and the surrounding landscape in 2024.
