Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery), Berlin

The impressive collection of modern art housed within the New National Gallery has a complex and troubled history. Its core consisted of over 250 paintings originally owned by banker J.H.W. Wagener. In the late 1860s, upon Wagener's death, these artworks were bequeathed to Crown Prince William, who initially displayed them in the Nationalgalerie on the Museum Island. However, in 1937, as part of the Nazi cultural cleansing program, more than 400 works from the collection, which had expanded to include paintings by artists like Renoir, Monet, and Manet, were seized.

After World War II, the Berlin municipal authority decided to rebuild the collection and authorized the construction of an appropriate building in West Berlin to house it. This commission was entrusted to the venerable figure of modern architecture, the 75-year-old Mies van der Rohe. The outcome is a remarkable minimalist building featuring a flat steel roof over a glass hall that seems to float in mid-air, supported only by six slender interior struts.

The collection primarily consists of 20th-century art but commences with artists from the late 19th century, such as Edvard Munch, Ferdinand Hodler, and Oskar Kokoschka. German artistic movements like Die Brücke are well-represented, featuring works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, including his evocative oil painting "Potsdamer Platz".

In addition to the Bauhaus movement, the gallery showcases the works of proponents of stark realism such as Otto Dix and George Grosz. It also includes celebrated artists from other European countries, including Picasso, Léger, de Chirico, Dalí, Magritte, and Ernst. Post-World War II art is represented by figures like Barnett Newman, Frank Stella, and many others. The sculpture garden within the gallery houses significant works, both figurative and abstract.