Munich Museums – A Morning with Modern Art

Saturday morning, I went for a museum in Munich, but before I was ready for art, I needed food. The first stop I made was therefore at the Architecture Department at the Technical University of Munich. They have the most amazing rooftop spot, Café Vorhoelzer, with a really nice view of the city, and for 12.5EUR you’ll get a fully loaded brunch platter with different kinds of cold cuts, salmon and cheese, of course served with plenty of bread rolls and German rye bread on the side. I also had iced coffee, but it was rather horrible, so let’s just pretend it never happened.

Unfortunately, I cannot show you any photos from the café as you weren’t allowed to take photos up there for anything else than personal use, but I can assure you that this is the place you’d want to be having brunch if you’re heading for the museums nearby. To get to the café, you walk through the main entrance and turn right. Then you take the elevator to the 4^th floor and walk all the way down the corridor to your right. Then you take the stairs one floor up and the café is there.

After a lovely brunch in the sun, I walked over to Pinakothek der Moderne, which is just a little further down the street. Pinakothek der Moderne is a museum for architecture, design, modern and contemporary art. The beautiful building was finished in 2002, which makes it a very new addition to the Pinakothek family. In front of the museum there’s a funny construction that looks like a UFO; the Futuro Haus by the Finnish architect Mati Suuronen.

The collection includes works by some of the most prominent 20^th century artists, including a self-portrait by Max Beckmann, which I just couldn’t take my eyes off. I find it utterly fascinating when the artist becomes the subject, and self-portraits are usually among the pieces I find most interesting.

There are three Pinakothek museums: Pinakothek der Moderne, Alte Pinakothek og Neue Pinakothek. I had only planned to visit Pinakothek der Moderne, but it turned out that all the museums had free admission that Saturday, so I decided to swing by Neue Pinakothek too. The museum has an impressive collection of European modern art from the 19^th century including one of van Gogh’s Sunflower paintings, but I liked Pinakothek der Moderne better.

My last stop that day was Museum Brandhorst. The museum was built in 2009 and houses a private collection consisting of modern and contemporary art donated by Udo Brandhorst. There was a very interesting temporary exhibition, “Innovation”, by the German, New York based painter Kerstin Brätsch, when I was there. Brandhorst was a nice supplement to Pinakothek der Moderne, and I’m still struggling to decide which one I liked the most.