Neue Nationalgalerie was the sole European building that Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) designed, after he departed for U.S in 1937 amid the rise of the Nazis. Its design qualified it as one of the more elegant structures of its kind anywhere. Mies, famous at the Bauhaus School that was closed by Nazis in 1933, always prioritised functionalism over décoration during his career. And like many of his other works, this building was mostly made of industrial materials like steel. From the outside, Neue Nationalgalerie (opened 1968) is unusual, since much of the art on view can’t be seen from its glassed-in second-floor façade.
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In the decades afterward, the Museum began to age, and British architect David Chipperfield was asked to repair it in 2012. The museum was reopened in 2021 following $168 m renovations. Now in Jan 2022 the museum hopes to become a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to The 25 Best Museum Buildings of the Past 100 Years and Atlas of Places.
Crown Hall at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago.
This was the centre-piece of Mies’ larger campus plan, just before WW2.
The Art Story
Neue Nationalgalerie was planned as a vital cornerstone of the cultural centre Kulturforum, situated between Landwehr Canal, Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten Park in central Berlin. The site was once a residential area built in the C19th, but parts of it were torn down by the Nazis to give space to Hitler and Speers’ New Berlin. Kulturforum was to become a modernist answer to Museum Island, and Neue Nationalgalerie was to become its centrepiece.
The gallery’s history was closely linked to the political division of Germany and of Berlin post-WW2. The founding in 1949 of two German states, with different political systems and differing ideologies concerning the role of art in society, marked the end of a unified collection. And with the division of Berlin, most of the cultural buildings finished up on East Berlin’s side of the wall. As a result, plans for West Berlin’s new cultural centre started in the 50s.
Nationalgalerie’s collection, first shown at the Museumsinsel Berlin then at the Kronprinzen-Palais on Unter den Linden, was originally managed by the Greater Berlin Authority. The West Berlin authorities wanted to rebuild the collection by setting up a Gallery of the C20th.
In the late 1950s Mies van der Rohe had already been commissioned to design a new office for Cuban liquor Bacardi, in Santiago de Cuba. He planned a large roof plate supported by 2 columns per side and in concrete, instead of steel. Bacardi fell through, but when Mies was invited to design the Berlin museum in 1961, he used his Cuban ideas, although different in scale. The new museum was said to be an homage to Schinkel’s Altes Museum on Museum Island.
The architect’s new museum had to house both the collection of C19th art and the Gallery of the C20th. Mies’ long-term preoccupation with creating fluid, open spaces led to the design of the upper pavilion of the gallery. This open-plan flexible space was very different from traditional museum idea of a closed building with exhibition rooms.
The Art Story
Neue Nationalgalerie was planned as a vital cornerstone of the cultural centre Kulturforum, situated between Landwehr Canal, Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten Park in central Berlin. The site was once a residential area built in the C19th, but parts of it were torn down by the Nazis to give space to Hitler and Speers’ New Berlin. Kulturforum was to become a modernist answer to Museum Island, and Neue Nationalgalerie was to become its centrepiece.
The gallery’s history was closely linked to the political division of Germany and of Berlin post-WW2. The founding in 1949 of two German states, with different political systems and differing ideologies concerning the role of art in society, marked the end of a unified collection. And with the division of Berlin, most of the cultural buildings finished up on East Berlin’s side of the wall. As a result, plans for West Berlin’s new cultural centre started in the 50s.
Nationalgalerie’s collection, first shown at the Museumsinsel Berlin then at the Kronprinzen-Palais on Unter den Linden, was originally managed by the Greater Berlin Authority. The West Berlin authorities wanted to rebuild the collection by setting up a Gallery of the C20th.
In the late 1950s Mies van der Rohe had already been commissioned to design a new office for Cuban liquor Bacardi, in Santiago de Cuba. He planned a large roof plate supported by 2 columns per side and in concrete, instead of steel. Bacardi fell through, but when Mies was invited to design the Berlin museum in 1961, he used his Cuban ideas, although different in scale. The new museum was said to be an homage to Schinkel’s Altes Museum on Museum Island.
The architect’s new museum had to house both the collection of C19th art and the Gallery of the C20th. Mies’ long-term preoccupation with creating fluid, open spaces led to the design of the upper pavilion of the gallery. This open-plan flexible space was very different from traditional museum idea of a closed building with exhibition rooms.
Neue Nationalgalerie by Mies
Opened in 1968
In Sep 1965, Mies travelled to Berlin to lay the foundation stone. And two years later he attended the most spectacular construction stage: hydraulically raising of the gigantic steel roof into place. Note Mies’ designed the upper exhibition hall and the giant floating steel roof plate, resting on 2 cruciform steel pillars on each side. The glass walls and the open floor plan created a space, made possible when Mies put most of the building's space under the podium i.e all service areas, offices, exhibitions spaces and café. It was Mies’ last building project.
When it was built, the museum was standing on the edge of what was then West Berlin. The building’s architectural structure changed little but the urban setting in which it stood underwent radical changes. Thanks to the reunification of Germany and of Berlin, and the ensuing construction heart at Potsdamer Platz, Neue Nationalgalerie was no longer in a wasteland but in the busy city centre.
The Staatsbibliothek emerged at the same time as the Neue Nationalgalerie, on the opposite side of Potsdamer Strasse, and was followed by the Kammermusiksaal-chamber music hall erected next to the existing Philharmonie. These buildings were joined several museums in the form of the Kulturforum (as above), and after German reunification, by the urban redevelopment of Potsdamer Platz.
When it was built, the museum was standing on the edge of what was then West Berlin. The building’s architectural structure changed little but the urban setting in which it stood underwent radical changes. Thanks to the reunification of Germany and of Berlin, and the ensuing construction heart at Potsdamer Platz, Neue Nationalgalerie was no longer in a wasteland but in the busy city centre.
The Staatsbibliothek emerged at the same time as the Neue Nationalgalerie, on the opposite side of Potsdamer Strasse, and was followed by the Kammermusiksaal-chamber music hall erected next to the existing Philharmonie. These buildings were joined several museums in the form of the Kulturforum (as above), and after German reunification, by the urban redevelopment of Potsdamer Platz.
Neue Nationalgalerie, airy galleries
Opening day in 1968
The New National Gallery shows C20th art: Expressionism, Cubism, Bauhaus, Surrealism and works by Pablo Picasso, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Joan Miró and Wassily Kandinsky. It was opened Sept 1968, signalling the start in West Berlin’s cultural rebirth. And with its steel roof and austere architecture, Neue Nationalgalerie stood in honour to a visionary C20th architect. He died shortly after (1969)
In the decades afterward, the Museum began to age, and British architect David Chipperfield was asked to repair it in 2012. The museum was reopened in 2021 following $168 m renovations. Now in Jan 2022 the museum hopes to become a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to The 25 Best Museum Buildings of the Past 100 Years and Atlas of Places.