The Lenbachhaus in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 houses an art museum and is part of Munich's "Kunstareal

Kunstareal

The Kunstareal is a museum quarter in the city centre of Munich, Germany.It consists of the three "Pinakotheken" galleries , the Glyptothek, the Staatliche Antikensammlung , the Lenbachhaus, the Museum Brandhorst and...

" (the "art area").

The building

The Lenbachhaus was built as a Florentine-style villa for the painter Franz von Lenbach

Franz von Lenbach

Franz von Lenbach was a German painter of Realist style.-Biography:Lenbach was born at Schrobenhausen, in Bavaria. His father was a mason, and the boy was intended to follow his father's trade or be a builder. With this view he was sent to school at Landsberg, and then to the polytechnic at Augsburg...

 between 1887 and 1891 by Gabriel von Seidl. Some of the rooms of the villa still have kept their original design.

The city of Munich acquired the building in 1924, and today, the Lenbach Haus houses the city's gallery. The Lenbachhaus was expanded 1927-1929 by Hans Grässel

Hans Grässel

Hans Grässel was a German architect. Grässel studied and performed almost his entire career in Munich, and as the council architect of the city he created a series of cemeteries of which Munich Waldfriedhof , opened in 1907, is well-known for being the first woodland cemetery...

 and again 1969-1972 by Heinrich Volbehr and Rudolf Thönessen. The latest wing was closed to the public in 2009 to allow the expansion and restoration of the Lenbachhaus by Norman Foster

Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank

Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....

. Construction started May, 2009, and the scheduled reopening is November, 2011. Currently, the house is not accessible to the public. The architect has decided to place the new main entrance on Museumsplatz in front of the Propylaea

Propylaea (Munich)

The Propylaea is a gate in Munich at the west side of Koenigsplatz.- History :The building constructed in Doric order was completed by Leo von Klenze in 1862 and evokes the monumental entrance of the Propylaea for the Athenian Acropolis...

.

The gallery

The gallery contains a variety of works by Munich painters and contemporary artists, in styles such as The Blue Rider and New Objectivity.

Munich painters

The gallery displays masterpieces by Munich artists such as Jan Polack

Jan Polack

Jan Polack Johannes Polack , was a 15th-century painter....

, Christoph Schwarz

Christoph Schwarz

Christoph Schwartz, Schwarz, or Schovarts was a German court painter.-Biography:Houbraken remarked that he died the same year that Adrian de Bie was born. He took his information from Joachim von Sandrart's Teutsche Akademie...

, Georges Desmarees ("Countess Holstein" 1754), Wilhelm von Kobell

Wilhelm von Kobell

Wilhelm von Kobell was a German painter, printmaker and teacher.-Biography:Kobell was born in Mannheim, the son of Ferdinand Kobell, a landscape painter who cited Claude Lorrain as his influence. Wilhelm's initial lessons were supplied by his father and his uncle, Franz Kobell...

, Georg von Dillis, Carl Rottmann

Carl Rottmann

Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann was a German landscape painter and the most famous member of the Rottmann family of painters....

, Carl Spitzweg

Carl Spitzweg

Carl Spitzweg was a German romanticist painter and poet. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era....

, Eduard Schleich, Carl Theodor von Piloty, Franz von Stuck, Franz von Lenbach

Franz von Lenbach

Franz von Lenbach was a German painter of Realist style.-Biography:Lenbach was born at Schrobenhausen, in Bavaria. His father was a mason, and the boy was intended to follow his father's trade or be a builder. With this view he was sent to school at Landsberg, and then to the polytechnic at Augsburg...

, Friedrich August von Kaulbach

Friedrich August von Kaulbach

Friedrich August von Kaulbach was a German portraitist and historical painter. He was the son of Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Kaulbach , the court painter at Hannover, and the great nephew of Wilhelm Kaulbach, another prominent member of the Kaulbach family of artists...

, Wilhelm Leibl

Wilhelm Leibl

Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life.Leibl was born in Cologne and in 1861 began his first training with Hermann Becker, a local painter. He entered the Munich Academy in 1864, subsequently studying with several artists including Carl...

, Wilhelm Trübner

Wilhelm Trübner

Wilhelm Trübner was a German realist painter of the circle of Wilhelm Leibl.Trübner was born in Heidelberg and had early training as a goldsmith. In 1867 he met classicist painter Anselm Feuerbach who encouraged him to study painting, and he began studies in Karlsruhe under Fedor Dietz...

 and Hans Thoma

Hans Thoma

Hans Thoma was a German painter.-Biography:He was born in Bernau in the Black Forest, Germany. Having started life as a painter of clock-faces, he entered in 1859 the Karlsruhe academy, where he studied under Schirmer and Des Coudres...

.

Works by members of the Munich Secession are also on display. The group was founded in 1892, and includes artists such as Lovis Corinth

Lovis Corinth

Lovis Corinth was a German painter and printmaker whose mature work realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism....

, Max Slevogt

Max Slevogt

Max Slevogt was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of the plein air style.-Biography:He was born in Landshut, Germany...

 and Fritz von Uhde

Fritz von Uhde

Fritz von Uhde was a German painter of genre and religious subjects. His style lay between Realism and Impressionism.- Biography :...

.

The Blue Rider

The Lenbachhaus is most famous for the large collection of paintings by Der Blaue Reiter

Der Blaue Reiter

Der Blaue Reiter was a group of artists from the Neue Künstlervereinigung München in Munich, Germany. The group was founded by a number of Russian emigrants, including Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and native German artists, such as Franz Marc, August Macke and...

 (The Blue Rider), a group of expressionist artists established in Munich in 1911 which included, among others, the painters Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...

, Gabriele Münter

Gabriele Münter

Gabriele Münter was a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century. Artists and writers associated with German Expressionism shared a rebellious attitude toward the materialism and mores of German imperial and bourgeois society...

, Franz Marc

Franz Marc

Franz Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of the German Expressionist movement...

, August Macke

August Macke

August Macke was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter . He lived during a particularly innovative time for German art which saw the development of the main German Expressionist movements as well as the arrival of the successive avant-garde movements which...

, Marianne von Werefkin

Marianne von Werefkin

Marianne von Werefkin , born Marianna Wladimirowna Werewkina , was a Russian-Swiss Expressionist painter.-Life and career:...

, and Paul Klee

Paul Klee

Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...

.

New Objectivity

Artists of the New Objectivity

New Objectivity

The New Objectivity is a term used to characterize the attitude of public life in Weimar Germany as well as the art, literature, music, and architecture created to adapt to it...

 like Christian Schad

Christian Schad

Christian Schad was a German painter associated with Dada and the New Objectivity movement. Considered as a group, Schad's portraits form an extraordinary record of life in Vienna and Berlin in the years following World War I.- Life :Schad was born in Miesbach, Upper Bavaria, to a prosperous...

 and Rudolf Schlichter

Rudolf Schlichter

Rudolf Schlichter was a German artist and one of the most important representatives of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement....

 are exhibited in several rooms.

Contemporary art

The museum gives a very profound view of international contemporary art with works by Franz Ackermann

Franz Ackermann

Franz Ackermann is a German painter and installation artist based in Berlin. He makes cartoonish abstraction....

, Dennis Adams

Dennis Adams

Dennis Adams is an American artist internationally recognized for his urban interventions and museum installations that reveal historical and political undercurrents in photography, cinema, public space and architecture. Over the last three decades, he has realized over fifty urban projects in...

, Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski is French sculptor, photographer, painter and film maker.-Life and work:Having no formal art education, he began painting in 1958. Nevertheless, he first came to public attention in 1960 with few short films and publication of several notebooks...

, Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...

, James Coleman

James Coleman

James Coleman may refer to:*James P. Coleman , Governor of Mississippi*James Smoot Coleman , American political scientist*James Samuel Coleman , American sociologist*James Coleman , Irish artist...

, Thomas Demand

Thomas Demand

Thomas Demand, in full Thomas Cyrill Demand, is a German sculptor and photographer. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles, and teaches at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg.-Education:...

, Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research...

, Valie Export

Valie Export

Valie Export is an Austrian artist...

, Dan Flavin

Dan Flavin

Dan Flavin was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures.-Early life and career:...

, Günther Förg

Günther Förg

Günther Förg is a prominent German painter, graphic designer, sculptor, and photographer. His abstract style is influenced by American abstract painting.- Vita :...

, Günther Fruhtrunk, Rupprecht Geiger

Rupprecht Geiger

Rupprecht Geiger was an abstract painter and sculptor from Munich, Germany. He is perhaps best known for his color field paintings and for his passion for the color red.- Life and work :...

, Isa Genzken

Isa Genzken

Isa Genzken is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Berlin.-Education:Genzken studied fine arts and art history at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts from 1969–1971, the Berlin University of the Arts from 1971–1973, and Arts Academy Düsseldorf from 1973-1977. Genzken married German visual...

, Liam Gillick

Liam Gillick

Liam Gillick is a British conceptual artist who lives in New York City. He is often associated with the artists included the 1996 exhibit Traffic, which first introduced the term Relational Art.-Life and career:...

, Katharina Grosse, Michael Heizer

Michael Heizer

Michael Heizer is a contemporary artist specializing primarily in large-scale sculptures and earth art .Heizer was born in Berkeley, California in 1944; and he attended the San Francisco Art Institute. Traveling to New York City in 1966, he began his career producing more conventional, small-scale...

, Andreas Hofer

Andreas Hofer

Andreas Hofer was a Tirolean innkeeper and patriot. He was the leader of a rebellion against Napoleon's forces....

, Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. Holzer lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York.-Education:...

, Stefan Huber

Stefan Huber

Stefan Huber is a Swiss former footballer who played as a goalkeeper during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.Huber's career began at Grasshopper-Club Zürich in 1984. He then moved to Lausanne Sports in 1988. He played there for five years before signing for FC Basel in 1993. He returned to...

, Asger Jorn

Asger Jorn

Asger Oluf Jorn was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International...

, Ellsworth Kelly

Ellsworth Kelly

Ellsworth Kelly is an American painter and sculptor associated with Hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing the simplicity of form found similar to the work of John McLaughlin. Kelly often employs bright colors to...

, Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Joseph Beuys and Peter Dreher during the 1970s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac...

, Michaela Melian, Gerhard Merz, Maurizio Nannucci, Roman Opalka

Roman Opalka

Roman Opałka was a French-born Polish painter.Opałka was born on August 27, 1931, in Abbeville-Saint-Lucien, France, to Polish parents. The family returned to Poland in 1946 and Opałka studied lithography at a graphics school before enrolling in the School of Art and Design in Lodz. He later...

, Sigmar Polke

Sigmar Polke

Sigmar Polke was a German painter and photographer.Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matter and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s, when he produced abstract works created by chance through chemical reactions between paint...

, Arnulf Rainer

Arnulf Rainer

Arnulf Rainer , is an Austrian painter and is internationally renowned for his abstract informal art.In his early years, Rainer was influenced by Surrealism...

, Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...

, Michael Sailstorfer, Richard Serra

Richard Serra

Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...

, Katharina Sieverding

Katharina Sieverding

Katharina Sieverding is a photographer known for her self-portraiture. Sieverding lives and works in Berlin and Düsseldorf. She is a professor at the University of the Arts, Berlin.- Early life and education :...

, Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

, Lawrence Weiner

Lawrence Weiner

Lawrence Weiner was a central figure in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s His work often takes the form of typographic texts.- Life and career :...

, Martin Wöhrl as well as artists of the Viennese Actionism

Viennese Actionism

The term Viennese Actionism describes a short and violent movement in 20th century art that can be regarded as part of the many independent efforts of the 1960s to develop "action art" . Its main participants were Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. As "actionists",...

.

Young artists are promoted in exhibitions in the affiliated Kunstbau above the Subway Station Königsplatz

Königsplatz

Königsplatz is a square in Munich, Germany.-Architecture:The square was designed with the creation of the Brienner Straße at the command of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria by Karl von Fischer and laid out by Leo von Klenze....

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External links

• Lenbachhaus website