With the addition of the new Museum Brandhorst to the triumvirate of Munich Pinakothek museums, the trio has now been transformed into a four-leaf clover.
The Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen was able to acquire not only one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary art, but to ingeniously integrate it into their art holdings in their Alte Pinakothek, Neue Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne museums, with their era-related arrangements. The collection of paintings, sculptures and installations in the Brandhorst Museum are part of work groups that include selected artists from the second half of the 20th century, international representatives of the contemporary art scene, while also dialoging and interacting with controversial, more recent movements.
Andy Warhol, with over 100 works, and Cy Twombly, with more that 60 paintings, drawings and sculptures, are at the heart of the collection, and, owing to their different nature, form an impressive contrast. On the one hand, Twombly’s quiet, enciphered individuality of image and symbolic language and, on the other hand, Warhol’s consumer, glamour and sensational icons. This spectrum is broadened by important names that include Georg Baselitz, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter ... Mario Merz, Jannis Kounellis ... Mike Kelley, Damien Hirst and many more. Despite the monumentality of the art, the architectural concept of the museum should not be overlooked, and rightfully deserves the praise it receives.
The building is not only distinguished through its very individual outer shell of 36,000 multi-colored ceramic rods, but also through the extremely conscientious and innovative use of light and ventilation systems that are also exemplary in terms of the tremendous energy savings they achieve.
