The Galerie Neue Meister (, ''New Masters Gallery'') in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, Germany, displays around 300 paintings from the 19th century until today, including works from

Otto Dix Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with George ...

, Edgar Degas,

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

and

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Durin ...

. The gallery also exhibits a number of sculptures from the Dresden Sculpture Collection from the same period. The museum's collection grew out of the Old Masters Gallery, for which contemporary works were increasingly purchased after 1843. The New Masters Gallery is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen (State Art Collections) of Dresden. It is located in the

Albertinum The Albertinum () is a modern art museum. The sandstone-clad Renaissance Revival building is located on Brühl's Terrace in the historic center of Dresden, Germany. It is named after King Albert of Saxony. The Albertinum hosts the New Masters ...

History

Caspar David Friedrich - Das Kreuz im Gebirge

The collection began as part of the Dresden Painting Gallery. The purchase of contemporary works, creating the "Modern Department", was stepped up in 1843 under

Bernhard von Lindenau Baron Bernhard August von Lindenau (11 June 1779 – 21 May 1854) was a German lawyer, astronomer, politician, and art collector. Lindenau was born in Altenburg, the son of Johann August Lindenau, a regional administrator (''Landschaftsdirektor)' ...

, director of the Royal Museums, who personally donated 700 talers each year for this purpose. The Academic Council, responsible for the gallery and the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

, also contributed 50 percent of the proceeds from its exhibitions towards new purchases. However, these funds were only enough for limited acquisitions, mostly restricted to German works.Galerie Neue Meister
www.dresden-und-sachsen.de (Dresden and Saxony tourist website). Until 1882 the collection contained only four major German Romanticism works; two paintings by Caspar David Friedrich and two works by Ludwig Richter. It was subsequently expanded under director Karl Woermann. The gallery first started to buy foreign contemporary works following an international art exhibition in Dresden in 1897. Under

Hans Posse Dr. Hans Posse (6 February 1879 – 7 December 1942) was a German art historian, museum curator, and, for over three years, from June 1939 until his death, the special representative of Adolf Hitler appointed to expand the collection of pain ...

, director from 1910, the gallery enlarged its collections of German Romanticism,

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

, and late 19th century "Civic Realism" (''Bürgerlicher Realismus''), which are still important today. The gallery was financially strengthened by the founding of the Dresden Museums Association in 1911 and the Patrons Association in 1917. In 1931, the Modern Department of the gallery with paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries moved into a separate building on Brühl's Terrace, laying the foundations for what is now known as the New Masters Gallery. The

Nazi 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 ...

campaign against "

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

" resulted in the confiscation and sale of 56 paintings, including works by Edvard Munch,

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s ...

and

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of th ...

. In the 1945 bombing of Dresden, 196 paintings were destroyed by fire while on a truck.Galerie neue Meister und Skulpturensammlung
Uta Baier, ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'', 4 March 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010. The present-day New Masters Gallery was founded in 1959, and has been housed in the upper rooms of the

since 1965. Subsequently, the gallery was able to retrieve a number of works that had been lost during and after

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 ...

. The floods of 2002 made it necessary to renovate the Albertinum and build a new flood-proof depot. The Albertinum reopened in June 2010 with an enlargement to the "Salzgasse Wing". Its rooms were once occupied by the

Green Vault The Green Vault (german: Grünes Gewölbe) is a museum located in Dresden, Germany, which contains the largest treasure collection in Europe. The museum was founded in 1723 by Augustus the Strong of Poland and Saxony, and it features a variety of ...

that was moved to the renovated

Dresden Castle Dresden Castle or Royal Palace (german: Dresdner Residenzschloss or ) is one of the oldest buildings in Dresden, Germany. For almost 400 years, it was the residence of the electors (1547–1806) and kings (1806–1918) of Saxony from the Alberti ...

at that time. Special exhibitions of contemporary art are now held there.

Collection

Some 300 paintings out of a collection of about 3,000 works are exhibited in the gallery. They date from the 19th century until today. Also shown are works from the Sculpture Collection belonging to the same period. On display are paintings by numerous major artists, including those of the German Romantics

Friedrich Friedrich may refer to: Names * Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' * Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other * Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Year ...

('' Ships in Harbour, Evening''), and Richter; the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

and Slevogt; and the

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

Nolde, including his '' Brücke'' works, and Dix from the

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, wh ...

movement. There are also works by Beckmann,

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, Kirchner,

Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, Modersohn-Becker,

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

, Munch, and one painting by

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

. Rooms are devoted to Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck and

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary Germa ...

.Georg Baselitz Visits His New Exhibition Space at Galerie Neue Meister in Dresden
Oliver Killig, ''ArtDaily'', 27 May 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010. Contemporary artists include

Neo Rauch Neo Rauch (born 18 April 1960, in Leipzig, East Germany; ) is a German artist whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. His work reflects the influence of socialist realism, and owes ...

and

Luc Tuymans Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a Belgian visual artist best known for his paintings which explore people's relationship with history and confront their ability to ignore it. World War II is a recurring theme in his work. He is a key figure ...

Highlights of the collection

Other

The Society of Modern Art in Dresden (''Gesellschaft für moderne Kunst in Dresden''), founded in 1994, raises funds for the purchase of new works and organises permanent loans to the museum. Through its support, more than 30 works have been acquired and several exhibitions funded.Erwerbungen der GMKD für die Galerie Neue Meister
''Gesellschaft für moderne Kunst in Dresden'', acquisitions.

Notes and references

External links