Direktion der Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Schild

The Bavarian State Painting Collections (german: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen), based in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany, oversees artwork held by the

Free State of Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total la ...

. It was established in 1799 as ''Centralgemäldegaleriedirektion''. Artwork includes

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

. Pieces are on display in numerous galleries and museums throughout Bavaria.

Galleries in Munich

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pinak ...

(Old Picture Gallery) *

Neue Pinakothek The Neue Pinakothek (, ''New Pinacotheca'') is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with th ...

(New Picture Gallery) * Pinakothek der Moderne (Modern Picture Gallery) * Schackgalerie * Museum Brandhorst

Galleries outside Munich

Ansbach Ansbach (; ; East Franconian: ''Anschba'') is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, ...

, State Gallery in the Residenz *

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

, State Gallery in the

Schloss Johannisburg Schloss Johannisburg is a schloss in the town of Aschaffenburg, in Franconia in the state of Bavaria, Germany. It was erected between 1605 and 1614 by the architect for Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg, Prince Bishop of Mainz. Until German medi ...

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

, State Gallery in the Katharinenkirche *Augsburg , State Gallery in the Glaspalast *

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

, State Gallery in the New Residence *

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

, State Gallery in the New Palace * Burghausen , State Gallery in the

Burghausen Castle Burghausen Castle in Burghausen, Upper Bavaria, is the longest castle complex in the world (1051 m), confirmed by the Guinness World Record company. History The castle hill was settled as early as the Bronze Age. The castle (which was foun ...

Füssen Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu, situated one kilometre from the Austrian border. The town is known for violin manufacturing and as the closest transportation hub for the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau ca ...

, State Gallery in the High Castle *

Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, Neu ...

, State Gallery in the

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Ottobeuren Ottobeuren (Swabian: ''Ottobeire'', Medieval Latin: ''Ottobura'') is a market town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany, located 11 km southeast of Memmingen near the A7. It is famous for Ottobeuren Abbey, situated next to the Basilica. The t ...

, State Gallery in the Benedictine-Abbey *

Schleißheim Palace The Schleißheim Palace (german: Schloss Schleißheim) comprises three individual palaces in a grand Baroque park in the village of Oberschleißheim, a suburb of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The palace was a summer residence of the Bavarian ruler ...

, State Gallery in the New Palace *

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an ...

, Olaf-Gulbransson-Museum in the Kurpark *

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

, State Gallery in the

Würzburg Residence The Würzburg Residence (German: ''Würzburger Residenz'') is a palace in Würzburg, Germany. Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and Maximilian von Welsch, representatives of the Austrian/South German Baroque style, were involved in the construction, ...

Nazi looted art in Bavarian State Collections

In 2012, the Bavarian State Paintings Collections announced the restitution of a painting from the workshop of

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collabora ...

to the heirs of Julius Kien of Vienna. Bavaria had acquired it from the collection of

Fritz Thyssen Friedrich "Fritz" Thyssen (9 November 1873 – 8 February 1951) was a German businessman, born into one of Germany's leading industrial families. He was an early supporter of the Nazi Party, but later broke with them. Biography Youth Thyssen w ...

. In 2013, the Bavarian State Painting Collections agreed to return two watercolours by

Max Pechstein Hermann Max Pechstein (31 December 1881 – 29 June 1955) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and a member of the Die Brücke group. He fought on the Western Front during World War I and his art was classified as Degenerate Ar ...

to the heirs of Professor Curt Glaser, confirming that the auction of his art collection and library were entirely due to Nazi persecution. In 2016, the heirs of

Alfred Flechtheim Alfred Flechtheim (1 April 1878 – 9 March 1937) was a German Jewish art dealer, art collector, journalist and publisher persecuted by the Nazis. Early years Flechtheim was born into a Jewish merchant family; his father, Emil Flechtheim, was a g ...

, a German-Jewish art dealer and collector, sued the German state of Bavaria, arguing in court papers that it has refused to turn over works of art that the heirs say were looted by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In June 2016, an investigation by ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

'' revealed that the Bavarian State Museums had "restituted" looted artworks to the families of high ranking Nazis, which the museum denied in a statement that was criticized as "both inaccurate and misleading". In 2017, the Bavarian State Painting Collections agreed to return a painting of the Raising of Lazarus to the heirs of James von Bleichröder, represented by Mondex Corporation of Toronto, Canada, confirming that the auction of Von Bleichröder's art collection in 1938 was due to Nazi persecution. (footnote to, https://www.pinakothek.de/sites/default/files/downloadable/2020-04/Blog%20Bleichroder_EN_080420.pdf). In 2019, one of the paintings that Bavaria had "sold" to the family of Hitler's photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, was returned to the heirs of its original Jewish owners, Gottlieb and Mathilde Kraus, eight decades after it was confiscated by the Gestapo. In 2019 three museums in Munich returned nine artworks to the heirs of Julius and Semaya Franziska Davidsohn, who were sent to the

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...

, where Julius died in August 1942 and Semaya died a few months later. In 2021, the Bavarian State Painting Collections returned a medieval work to the heirs of Drey and his business partners, Ludwig and Friedrich Stern. In 2021, Munich's

restituted ''Fischerboote bei Frauenchiemsee'' (1884) by the 19th-century Austrian painter Joseph Wopfner to the heirs of Nuremberg toy manufacturer and art collector Abraham Adelsberger. In 2021, the Bavarian State Paintings Collections refused to allow Germany's national tribunal that reviews claims of art lost in the Nazi era to review the case of

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

's ''Madame Soler'', which the family of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy had claimed. "It is simply inexplicable that the state should refuse to use a mediation mechanism it established itself", said Hans-Jürgen Papier, the commission's chairman and a former president of Germany's constitutional court.

References

External links

Die Pinakothek"Bavarian Parliament Will Investigate Claims Looted Art Was Returned to Nazis"
{{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Germany Museums in Munich 1799 establishments in Europe

Galleries in Munich

Galleries outside Munich

Nazi looted art in Bavarian State Collections

See also

References

External links