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
- Art of antiquity
- 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
- 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.
Myth & Modernity. Fritz Koenig and Antiquity, Glyptothek, 20 November 2024 to 30 March 2025
The exhibition ‘Myth & Modernity. Fritz Koenig and Antiquity’ at the Munich Glyptothek presents a selection of his sculptures, drawings and paper cuts to mark the 100th birthday of the sculptor Fritz Koenig. The works enter into a dialogue with the antique sculptures in the permanent exhibition and show Koenig's inspiration from classical antiquity in an impressive way.
Combo. An exhibition by the Munich Secession at the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, 29 January to 27 April 2025
This time, the Staatliche Antikensammlungen are not showing any antique exhibits as part of a special exhibition, but are working together with the Munich Secession and the Deutscher Künstlerbund to commemorate the period between 1898 and 1916, when the museum served as an exhibition centre for both artist communities. In addition to the historical perspective, current works by contemporary artists from both groups are also presented.
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.
How Pictures Tell Stories: From Albrecht Altdorfer to Peter Paul Rubens, Alte Pinakothek, 5. June 2025 to 5. July 2026
A re-encounter with old acquaintances such as rarely displayed discoveries in the Alte Pinakothek! The presentation of works from the collection of Early German, Early Netherlandish and Flemish paintings of the 16th and early 17th century promises a surprise or two. Different facets of a theme that is one of the core tasks of painting are examined: namely storytelling. How and by whom are stories told and what do they relate? What aims have artists and patrons pursued at different times, and what audiences do they address? And is this always obvious at all or are those looking at a work sometimes even deliberately misled? These and other questions are raised in this presentation in which often nothing appears to be as it seems at first glance.
From Goya to Manet. Masterpieces from the Neue Pinakothek at the Alte Pinakothek, to 24 November 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.
Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot's Russia, Haus der Kunst, 6 September 2024 to 2 February 2025
The exhibition, which will be shown in the LSK Gallery, the air-raid shelter of Haus der Kunst, is the largest presentation of the work of the Pussy Riot artistic collective to date. On display are the texts written by hand on the walls by Maria Alyokhina, which merge with videos, photos, humour, punk and noise in one room. Visitors can understand the increasingly hostile relationship between the feminist art collective and the Russian state authorities and confront the question of what resistance means in art.
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.
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.
But living here? No thanks. Surrealism + Anti-Fascism, Lenbachhaus, 15 October 2024 to 2 March 2025
Ever since they came together in the 1920s, surrealists denounced European colonial policy, later they organised themselves against fascists, fought in the Spanish Civil War, called on Wehrmacht soldiers to sabotage, were interned and persecuted, fled Europe and fell in the war. They wrote poetry, honed the deconstruction of a supposedly rational language, worked on paintings and collective drawings, took photographs and made collages. The exhibition aims to bring together attempts to answer the question ‘What is Surrealism?’. The aim is to make surrealism visible as the controversial, internationally networked and highly politicised movement that its representatives understood it to be.
Rosemarie Trockel / Thea Djordjadze. limitation of life, Lenbachhaus, 12 November 2024 to 27 April 2025
The Lenbachhaus presents a joint exhibition by Rosemarie Trockel (b. Schwerte, Germany, 1952) and Thea Djordjadze (b. Tbilisi, 1971). The two artists forged a close creative relationship between 1998 and 2001, when Djordjadze was Trockel’s student at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, and have realized joint projects before. Their oeuvres explore themes that are relevant to contemporary art and its production, scrutinizing, for example, the creative process and interrogating its premises, traditions, freedoms, and constraints. Meanwhile, they play with the conventions of art and the exhibition space.
Rotunda Project 2025: Rupert Huber. Music of Entcounters, Pinakothek der Moderne, 6 June 2025 to 9 November 2025
The Austrian composer Rupert Huber (*1967) has composed a piece of music especially for the Rotunda in the Pinakothek der Moderne. It will be ‘performed’ by visitors to the museum: their movements will trigger melodic sequences from the composition and create a polyphonic ‘music of encounters’.
‘Social music’ is based on being able to incorporate unforeseeable events into a composition – in line with the principle of interaction: a person moves, a sensor detects their movement and triggers a melodic tonal sequence. In this way, several people create a symphony-like sound: their encounters are not only orchestrated but form the basis of the music installation as well – a symphony of individuals’ coming together. The sounds are adapted to the architectural situation, the proportions of the space determine the harmonisation of the parts.
The Bicycle. Cult Object - Design Object, Pinakothek der Moderne, until 1 April 2025
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.
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.
Kitchen Culture. From the first fitted kitchen to the individually configured kitchen, Pinakothek der Moderne, from 26 November 2024
The new permanent exhibition at the Pinakothek der Moderne sheds light on the kitchen culture of the past 100 years, from the first fitted kitchen to the customised kitchen. During this time, designers and architects developed new solutions and reacted to technical and social changes. The spectrum ranges from the simple cooking cell to the kitchen as the communicative centre of the living area.
This insight is complemented by a selection of household appliances that characterise everyday life in the kitchen. In addition, a wall installation of around 300 trays from the Ludmila and Rolf Podlasly collection shows popular design from GDR production. With works by renowned female artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Laurie Simmons and Mona Hatoum, the works on loan from the Goetz Munich Collection expand on aspects of kitchen work and the traditional role of women.
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, until February 16, 2025
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), until 24 November 2024
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.
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.
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.
Philippe Parreno: Voices, Haus der Kunst, 13 December 2024 to 25 May 2025
The exhibition ‘Voices’ is the highlight of this year's theme of language at Haus der Kunst. The central element is the development of the new language ∂A, spoken by ARD Tagesschau speaker Susanne Daubner. ∂A was conceived by Philippe Parreno himself and is constantly evolving through machine learning. The language interweaves all the elements that the artist brings together in the exhibition spaces. The rooms are transformed into a constantly changing science fiction landscape in which visitors can sense the imminent arrival of something that is not yet present. Parreno sees his work as a living organism that takes shape through temperature fluctuations, light, moving images and language ∂A, thus becoming a medium of communication in our world.
Mumkin Sura? Egypt 1983. Photographs by Dirk Altenkirch, Staatliches Museum für Ägyptische Kunst, until 1 December 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.
Gregory Crewdson: Picture Window, Espace Louis Vuitton, 11 October 2024 to 22 February 2025
The exhibition at the Espace Louis Vuitton shows two series - Dream House (2002) and Cathedral of the Pines (2014) - by US photographer Gregory Crewdson. Crewdson, who was born in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1962, is one of the most renowned contemporary photographers. For three decades, he has been drawing a meditative portrait of the middle class in the USA, staging his photographs as if they were films. He uses actors, backdrops, props, storyboards and make-up artists. With these means, he explores the dark side of the American dream as well as his own psychological themes.
The Psychonaut. Amazement at the World: Photographs by Stefan Seffrin, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, 11 October 2024 to 19 January 2025
The photographic artist Stefan Seffrin (born 1964) is presenting around 50 large-format photographic works at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, most of which are being shown for the first time. His work focuses on the psychonaut, whom Seffrin shows travelling through the present. This likeable fantasy figure appears in natural and wasteland landscapes, cities and interiors. It appears as a silent witness to a time of upheaval, multiple crises and the sword of Damocles that hangs over everything: climate change.
The psychonaut irritates its surroundings and from there casts an emotionless gaze back at the viewer. The Psychonaut project, developed since 2015, follows on from a series of fascinating photo series on various themes that Seffrin has created since the mid-1990s. Just as the peaceful stranger himself was also a guest at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, the presentation of the impressive photo series at this location is an inspiring intervention and a stimulating bridge between different times and worlds. (The picture for the exhibition is the cover picture of the whole article “Lust auf Kunst“)
Prix Pictet Human, Pinakothek der Moderne, 6 to 24 November 2024
The Prix Pictet is the world's leading prize for photography and sustainability, launched in 2008 with the aim of using the power of photography to sensitise people to global sustainability issues. The exhibition shows the work of twelve photographers who were nominated for the shortlist of the tenth cycle of the Prix Pictet.
Civilization. The Way We Live Now, Kunsthalle München, 11 April to 24 August 2025
Never have more people lived on Earth, never has our impact on the planet been greater, never have we been more closely interconnected—our society is changing ever more rapidly. The exhibition Civilization tracks humanity’s visual threads across the globe, through the eyes of 150 of the most internationally accomplished photographers. The thematic tour presents diverse imagery from cultures on all continents, exploring a variety of aspects, from the great achievements of mankind to our collective failings. In the year of its 40th anniversary, the Kunsthalle München is dedicating this exhibition to the question of how we live today and sheds light on our civilization’s diversity and contradictions.
On View. Encounters with the photographic, Pinakothek der Moderne, 4 July to 12 October 2025
The Ann and Jürgen Wilde Foundation and the Collection of Photography and Time-Based Media are presenting a joint overview of their holdings in one exhibition for the first time. Milestones of artistic photography from the 20th and 21st centuries will be on display – including renowned key works and recent acquisitions. Taking New Objectivity and documentary photography as starting points, themes such as the body, identity, objecthood, time and narrative will be explored, juxtaposing works spanning different eras. The exhibition ”On View. Encounters with the Photographic” unites some 250 works by more than 50 artists in one exhibition space covering 1200 square metres.
Paula Scher. Type is Image, Pinakothek der Moderne, 23 June 2023 to 21 September 2025
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.
Almut Heise, Pinakothek der Moderne, 21 September 2024 to 4 January 2025
The work of Almut Heise (* Celle 1944) is one of the most consistent positions in contemporary art. Over decades, the painter has created a unique painterly and graphic oeuvre with stoic composure and nonchalant intransigence that is unrivalled.
Her veristic motifs seem to have fallen out of time, but at the same time captivate with the impressive presence of the interiors and people depicted in a seemingly timeless present that makes us forget the everyday living space of the protagonists.
Where the Wild Lines are. Books and Illustrations for Children, Pinakothek der Moderne, 11 October 2024 to 26 January 2025
The exhibition entitled ‘Where the Wild Lines are. Books and Illustrations for Children’ at Die Neue Sammlung presents over 170 illustrated books from over 25 countries and spans a historical arc from 1870 to the present day. Milestones in children's book design, such as Jean de Brunhoff's elephant ‘Babar’ from 1933 or Raymond Briggs' “Father Christmas” from 1973, are on display and the second part of the exhibition takes a closer look at the four creative possibilities of “colour”, “character”, “perspective” and “space”.
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.
The Third Generation. The Holocaust in Family Memory, Jüdisches Museum, 9 April 2025 to 1 March 2026
More than eighty years after the Shoah, we are now witnessing the death of the last contemporary witnesses. Their story, but also their trauma, was passed down to the generations of children and grandchildren. While the second generation grew up with the psychological and physical injuries of their parents, the third generation looks at the family history from a greater temporal distance. Because of the awareness that their lives are based solely on the survival of others, memory and silence, family myths and secrets, overwhelming or missing family legacies are ubiquitous.
Starting from an approach to what it can mean to belong to the third generation and the dimension of trauma in family memory, the exhibition explores various strategies for coping and dealing with the legacy of the Holocaust. Using artistic works in particular, it tells of archiving and no longer wanting to remain silent, of appropriation and demarcation, of consciously remembering and wanting to forget, of the omnipresence of the Shoah and the large gaps in family histories, and the attempts to fill them. The artistic positions, but also the objects and archives on display, show how trauma is transmitted from generation to generation. At the same time, they convey how the global rise of right-wing radicalism, terror, and war can lead to retraumatization, on the one hand, but also to increased commitment to peace and human rights, on the other.
From nuclear physics to robotics: the diverse permanent exhibitions on the Museum Island, Deutsches Museum
Experience knowledge: There are 19 permanent exhibitions to discover on around 20,000 square metres on Munich's Museum Island. The thematic diversity ranges from nuclear physics to agriculture and nutrition, from chemistry to bridges and hydraulic engineering, from aerospace to health and robotics. Some of the greatest masterpieces are on display, such as the first diesel engine, the Siemens studio for electronic music, the Helios space probe or the infamous Enigma cipher machine. You can gain an insight into the departments here.
The focus is not only on the past, but also on current and future-oriented inventions and developments, such as the pioneering Sycamore quantum processor or the first authorised anti-corona vaccines. Many interactive demonstrations, walk-through exhibits, experience spaces for virtual reality or augmented reality 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.
Future of the Alps. Global warming, Alpines Museum, 25 October 2024 to 30 August 2025
Global warming is changing our world dramatically. This is particularly evident in the Alps. The change in temperature and precipitation has an immense impact on biodiversity, flora, fauna and the shape of the landscape. Together with scientists, experts from nature conservation organisations, members and representatives of Alpine associations and students, the exhibition shows the effects of this development and looks for ways to respond to the challenges of global warming.
“Thin Ice“, Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum, from 22 November 2024
“Thin Ice“ takes visitors on a climate expedition in Hall I of the Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum and is particularly aimed at children and school classes. They can immerse themselves in the world of Arctic expeditions and climate research and slip into the role of researchers. The first stop is on the POLARSTERN research vessel. Here you can find out about life on board and, for example, try out for yourself how complicated it is to screw together measuring instruments while wearing thick polar gloves.
Several research stations on the ice then demonstrate the technical effort and manpower required to collect data. Here you can learn which alarming theories about the climate and the impending climate catastrophe can be substantiated by the data. Knowledge, creativity and attention are required here if you want to support science with your data! The diaries can be analysed at the end of the exhibition.
Prehistoric Forms - Understanding Ice Age Art, Archäologische Staatssammlung, 22 November 2024 to 21 April 2025
Our ancestors were already artistically active in the Ice Age. This is shown in the exhibition “Urformen – Eiszeitkunst begreifen“, at the Archäologische Staatssammlung in Munich. This exhibition has already been shown in Ulm – for Munich, the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart is contributing the inclusive part of the exhibition. On display are finds from the caves of the Swabian Alb, supplemented by 23 carved Ice Age works of art found at various locations throughout Europe. Visitors can gain an insight into the everyday life of people in the Palaeolithic Age at interactive stations.
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.
Maria Theresia 23: Biography of a Munich villa, Monacensia, from 27 October 2024
The Monacensia's new permanent exhibition tells the eventful history of the Hildebrandhaus, from the artists‘ villa of the Prince Regent era to the artists’ villa of today. A special focus is placed on previously little-researched events and people who shaped the house and its immediate neighbourhood.
The sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand had the villa built as a prestigious studio and residence during the time of the Prince Regent. Over the years, the Hildebrand House became a place where many life stories took a tragic and cruel turn: National Socialism marked a chapter characterised by disenfranchisement and extermination. Persecutees, profiteers and representatives of the Nazi regime lived together in the villa and its immediate neighbourhood in a very confined space. Today, the Hildebrandhaus, home of the Monacensia, is open to anyone who wants to discover and experience literary Munich.
The exhibition displays numerous biographical documents, photographs, files and letters from various archives and private collections. These include documents about the family of the Jewish landscape painter Benno Becker, which come from a private estate. Interviews with Rachel Salamander and Julian Nida-Rümelin complement the exhibition with individual perspectives.
Colonialism in things, Museum Fünf Kontinente, 8 November 2024 to 18 May 2025
“When is a work of art colonial?“ The special exhibition ‘Colonialism in things’ is dedicated to this question and takes a critical look at the colonial past of the Museum Fünf Kontinente. On display are unique historical artefacts that came to Munich during the colonial era and are now often regarded as masterpieces. Alongside key works of the post-colonial debate, such as the Bele Bele ship's beak from Cameroon or Benin bronzes from Nigeria, there are art and cultural artefacts from Tanzania, Namibia, India and Pakistan, China, New Guinea, the Philippines and Samoa.
The selection includes everyday objects as well as works of great spiritual, political or artistic significance. The exhibition documents how these objects were looted, bought, exchanged or accepted as gifts in European-ruled colonial territories. The violence, racism and attempts to suppress the cultures of the colonised become clearly visible.
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.
