The Lenbachhaus () is a building housing an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

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 ...

's ''

Kunstareal The Kunstareal (, "art district") is a museum quarter in the city centre of Munich, Germany. Area of arts It consists of the three "Pinakotheken" galleries (Alte Pinakothek, Neue Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne), the Glyptothek, the Sta ...

''.

The building

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

Franz von Lenbach Franz Seraph Lenbach, after 1882, Ritter von Lenbach (13 December 1836 – 6 May 1904), was a German painter known primarily for his portraits of prominent personalities from the nobility, the arts, and industry. Because of his standing in society ...

between 1887 and 1891 by

Gabriel von Seidl Gabriel von Seidl (9 December 1848 – 27 April 1913) was a German architect and a representative of the historicist style of architecture. Life and work Gabriel Seidl was born in Munich, Bavaria in 1848. He was the first son of the wealthy ba ...

and was expanded 1927–1929 by Hans Grässel and again 1969–1972 by Heinrich Volbehr and Rudolf Thönnessen. Some of the rooms have kept their original design. The city of Munich acquired the building in 1924 and opened a museum there in 1929. The latest wing was closed to the public in 2009 to allow the expansion and restoration of the Lenbachhaus by

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

; the 1972 extension was demolished to make way for the new building. The museum reopened in May 2013. The architect placed the new main entrance on Museumsplatz in front of the

Propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaea, propylea or propylaia (; Greek: προπύλαια) is a monumental gateway. They are seen as a partition, specifically for separating the secular and religious pieces of a city. The prototypical Gree ...

. The new facade, clad in metal tubes made of an alloy of copper and aluminum, will weather with time.

The gallery

The gallery contains a variety of works by Munich painters and contemporary artists, in styles such as

the Blue Rider ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...

and New Objectivity.

Munich painters

Starting already with late Gothic paintings, the gallery displays masterpieces by Munich artists such as

Jan Polack Jan Polack Johannes Po(l)lack (Hanns Polagk, Polegk), ( la, Ioannes Polonus) (between 1435 and 1450 – 1519) was a 15th-century painter. From his nickname it is assumed that he might have been born and/or worked in Kraków. From the mid-1470s ...

, Christoph Schwarz, Georges Desmarees (''Countess Holstein'' 1754),

Wilhelm von Kobell Wilhelm von Kobell (6 April 1766 – 15 July 1853) 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 in ...

Georg von Dillis Johann Georg von Dillis (26 December 1759 – 28 September 1841) was a German painter. Biography He was born in Gmain near Dorfen. Son of a gamekeeper and forester, he was educated in Munich with support from the prince-elector of Bavaria. Init ...

Carl Rottmann Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann (11 January 1797, in Handschuhsheim – 7 July 1850, in Munich) was a German landscape painter and the most famous member of the Rottmann family of painters. Rottmann belonged to the circle of artists around King Lud ...

(''Cosmic stormlandscape'' 1849),

Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romanticist painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. Life and career Spitzweg was born in U ...

(''Childhood Friends'', ), Eduard Schleich,

Carl Theodor von Piloty Karl Theodor von Piloty (1 October 1826 – 21 July 1886) was a German painter, noted for his historical subjects, and recognised as the foremost representative of the realistic school in Germany. Life and work Piloty was born in Munich. His fat ...

Franz von Stuck Franz von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient mythology, receiving substantial critical acclaim with '' The ...

(''Salome'' 1906),

(''Self Portrait with His Wife and Daughters'' 1903),

Friedrich August von Kaulbach Friedrich August von Kaulbach (2 June 1850 in Munich – 26 July 1920 in Ohlstadt, Germany) was a German portraitist and historical painter. Biography He was born to a family that included several well known artists and began his studies with ...

Wilhelm Leibl Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl (October 23, 1844 – December 4, 1900) was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life. Biography Leibl was born in Cologne, where his father was the director of the Cathedral choir. He was a ...

(''Veterinarian Reindl in the Arbor'' ),

Wilhelm Trübner Wilhelm Trübner (February 3, 1851 – December 21, 1917) was a German realist painter of the circle of Wilhelm Leibl. Biography Trübner was born in Heidelberg. He was the third son of a silver- and goldsmith, Johann Georg Trübner, and h ...

and

Hans Thoma Hans Thoma (2 October 1839 – 7 November 1924) was a German painter. Biography Hans Thoma was born on 2 October 1839 in Bernau in the Black Forest, Germany. He was the son of a miller and was trained in the basics of painting by a painter of ...

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

impressionist 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 ...

painters

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Se ...

(''Self-portrait with skeleton'' 1896),

Max Slevogt Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 – 20 September 1932) 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 th ...

(''Danae'' 1895) and

Fritz von Uhde Fritz von Uhde (born Friedrich Hermann Carl Uhde; 22 May 1848 – 25 February 1911) was a German painter of genre and religious subjects. His style lay in-between Realism and Impressionism, he was once known as "Germany's outstanding impressioni ...

German Schools of Painting and Barbizon

In 2012, the Christoph Heilmann Foundation, Munich, and the Lenbachhaus agreed to cooperate closely; in the process, around one hundred works were handed over to the Lenbachhaus. In addition to the Munich school of painting, the Dresden Romanticism and the Berlin school and the

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy (now the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State Art Academy) during the 1830s and 1840s, when the A ...

are also shown in characteristic individual examples; the first portrayal of

Barbizon Barbizon () is a commune (town) in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Barbizonais''. Art history The Barbizon school of painters is name ...

's painters in France is particularly important. The Lenbachhaus now has got a major work by

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

, who first appeared in 1851 in an exhibition in Munich next to paintings of

Théodore Rousseau Étienne Pierre Théodore Rousseau (April 15, 1812December 22, 1867) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. Life Youth He was born in Paris, France in a bourgeois family. At first he received a basic level of training, but soon displaye ...

The Blue Rider

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

Der Blaue Reiter ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...

(The Blue Rider), a group of

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 ...

artists established in Munich in 1911 which included, among others, the painters

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

(''Impression III (Concert)'' 1911),

Gabriele Münter Gabriele Münter (19 February 1877 – 19 May 1962) was a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century. She studied and lived with the painter Wassily Kandinsky and was a founding memb ...

(''Still Life with St. George'' 1911),

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later b ...

(''Blue Horse I'' 1911),

August Macke August Robert Ludwig Macke (3 January 1887 – 26 September 1914) was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He lived during a particularly act ...

(''Promenade'' 1913),

Marianne von Werefkin Marianne von Werefkin, born Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina ( rus, Мариа́нна Влади́мировна Верёвкина, Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina, mərʲɪˈanːə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə vʲɪˈrʲɵfkʲɪnə; – 6 Febr ...

(''Self Portrait I'' ),

Alexej von Jawlensky Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (russian: Алексе́й Гео́ргиевич Явле́нский, translit=Alekséy Geórgiyevich Yavlénskiy) (13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expressioni ...

(''Portrait of the Dancer Alexander Sacharoff'' 1909),

Alfred Kubin Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was an Austrian printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism (arts), Symbolism and Expressionism. Biography Kubin wa ...

(''The Male Sphinx'' ), and

Paul 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 ...

(''Föhn Wind in Franz Marc's Garden'' 1915). Münter donated 1,000 “Blue Rider” works to the museum on her 80th birthday.

New Objectivity

Artists of 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, who ...

Christian Schad Christian Schad (21 August 189425 February 1982) was a German painter and photographer. He was associated with the Dada and the New Objectivity movements. Considered as a group, Schad's portraits form an extraordinary record of life in Vienna a ...

(''Operation'' 1929) and

Rudolf Schlichter Rudolf Schlichter (or Rudolph Schlichter) (December 6, 1890 – May 3, 1955) was a German painter and one of the most important representatives of the ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' (New Objectivity) movement. Schlichter was born in Calw, Württemberg. Af ...

(''

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

'' ) 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 (born 1963 in Neumarkt-Sankt Veit, Bavaria) is a German painter and installation artist based in Berlin. He makes cartoonish abstraction. Life He attended the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Munich from 1984 to 1988 and the Ho ...

Dennis Adams Dennis Adams (born 1948) is an American artist. He has made urban interventions and museum installations that reveal historical and political undercurrents in photography, cinema, public space and architecture. About Adams was born in Des Moi ...

Christian Boltanski Christian Liberté Boltanski (6 September 1944 – 14 July 2021) was a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and film maker. He is best known for his photography installations and contemporary French conceptual style. Early life Boltanski wa ...

Monica Bonvicini Monica Bonvicini (born 1965 in Venice) is an Italian artist. In her work, Bonvicini investigates the relationship between power structures, gender and space. She works intermediately with installation, sculpture, video, photography and drawing me ...

, James Coleman,

Thomas Demand Thomas Cyrill Demand (born 1964) 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. Demand had his first solo exhibition at Tanit Galerie in Munich ...

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson ( is, Ólafur Elíasson; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's ...

Valie Export Valie Export (often stylized as 'VALIE EXPORT'; born 17 May 1940) is an avant-garde Austrian artist. She is best known for provocative public performances and expanded cinema work. Her artistic work also includes video installations, computer an ...

Dan Flavin Dan Flavin (April 1, 1933 – November 29, 1996) was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures. Early life and career Daniel Nicholas Flavin ...

Günther Förg Günther Förg (December 5, 1952 – December 5, 2013) was a German painter, graphic designer, sculptor and photographer. His abstract style was influenced by American abstract painting.

Günter Fruhtrunk Günter Fruhtrunk (1 May 1923 – 12 December 1982) was a German geometric abstract painter and printmaker whose work relates to op art. Born in Munich, Fruhtrunk studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Munich, which he gave u ...

Rupprecht Geiger Rupprecht Geiger (26 January 1908 – 6 December 2009) was a German abstract painter and sculptor. Throughout his career, he favored monochromicity and color-field paintings. For a time, he concentrated solely on the color red. Life and work ...

Isa Genzken Isa Genzken (born 27 November 1948) is a German artist who lives and works in Berlin. Her primary media are sculpture and installation, using a wide variety of materials, including concrete, plaster, wood and textile. She also works with photograp ...

Liam Gillick Liam Gillick (born 1964, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is a British artist who lives and works in New York City.

Katharina Grosse Katharina Grosse (born 2 October 1961) is a German artist. As an artist, Grosse's work employs a use of architecture, sculpture and painting. She is known for her large-scale, site-related installations to create immersive visual experiences. Sh ...

Michael Heizer Michael Heizer (born 1944) is an American land artist specializing in large-scale and site-specific sculptures. Working largely outside the confines of the traditional art spaces of galleries and museums, Heizer has redefined sculpture in terms ...

Andy Hope 1930 Andy Hope 1930 (born Andreas Hofer) is a German artist. Since 1998, most of his work has been signed "Andy Hope 1930" (although at that time the artist was still named Andreas Hofer).Barbara Fischer, ''Universum - Multiversum, Künstler Kritische ...

(Andreas Hofer),

Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer (born July 29, 1950) is an American neo-conceptual artist, based in Hoosick, New York. The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces and includes large-scale installations, advertising billboards, ...

Stefan Huber Stefan Huber (born 14 June 1966) is a Swiss former footballer who played as a goalkeeper during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Club career Huber played his youth football by local club FC Unterstrass. He then moved to Grasshopper Club and b ...

Asger Jorn Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest c ...

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...

Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan hav ...

Michaela Melian Michaela (Hebrew מיכאלה) is a female given name. It is a female form of the Hebrew name Michael (given name), Michael (מִיכָאֵל), which means "Who is like God". As of 2008, it was 357th in rank for newborn girls in the United States, ...

Gerhard Merz Gerhard is a name of Germanic origin and may refer to: Given name * Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate * Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark * Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–19 ...

Maurizio Nannucci Maurizio Nannucci (born 1939, in Florence, Italy) is an Italian contemporary artist. Lives and works in Florence and South Baden, Germany. Nannucci's work includes: photography, video, neon installations, sound installation, artist's books, and edi ...

Roman Opałka Roman Opałka (27 August 1931 – 6 August 2011) was a French-born Polish painter, whose works are mostly associated with conceptual art. Opałka was born on 27 August 1931 in Abbeville-Saint-Lucien, France, to Polish parents. The family retu ...

Sigmar Polke Sigmar Polke (13 February 1941 – 10 June 2010) was a German painter and photographer. Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matters and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s ...

Arnulf Rainer Arnulf Rainer (born 8 December 1929) is an Austrian painter noted for his abstract informal art. Rainer was born in Baden, Austria. During his early years, Rainer was influenced by Surrealism. In 1950, he founded the ''Hundsgruppe'' (''dog gro ...

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 German ...

Michael Sailstorfer Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

Richard Serra Richard Serra (born November 2, 1938) is an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures made for site-specific landscape, urban, and architectural settings. Serra's sculptures are notable for their material quality and exploration o ...

Katharina Sieverding Katharina Sieverding (born 16 November 1944) is a German photographer known for her self-portraiture. Sieverding lives and works in Berlin and Düsseldorf. She is a professor emeritus at the University of the Arts, Berlin. Early life and educati ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Amer ...

Lawrence Weiner Lawrence Charles Weiner (February 10, 1942December 2, 2021) was an American conceptual artist. He was one of the central figures in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s. His work often took the form of typographic texts, a form of word a ...

and Martin Wöhrl, as well as artists of the

Viennese Actionism Viennese Actionism was a short-lived art movement in the late 20th-century that spanned the 1960s into the 1970s. It is regarded as part of the independent efforts made during the 1960s to develop the issues of performance art, Fluxus, happening, ...

. Art installations were added with the opening of the new building, such as a sculpture from

. The Lenbachhaus strengthened its investment especially in the oeuvre of

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

considerably by acquiring numerous works of art, such as ''Zeige deine Wunde'' (''Show your wound'') 1974/75. Young artists are promoted in exhibitions in the affiliated Kunstbau above the Subway Station Königsplatz. Stephanie Weber curated a solo show of Mark Boulos and film series of Charles Simonds and Christoph Schlingensief, all the while commissioning performances by Tom Thayer and C. Spencer Yeh and adding to the collection works by Vito Acconci,

and Martha Rosler, and worked on a retrospective of Polish-born feminist artist Lea Lublin that opened in summer 2015. On 26 July 2017 a legal battle over a Paul Klee painting titled ''Swamp Legend'' (1919), seized by Nazis as "degenerate" art in the 1930s, reached a settlement:

Gallery

File:Macke, August - Promenade - Google Art Project.jpg, August Macke, ''Promenade'' File:Macke, August - Türkisches Café - Google Art Project.jpg, August Macke, ''Türkisches Café'' File:Marc, Franz - Blue Horse I - Google Art Project.jpg, Franz Marc, ''Blue Horse'' File:Marc, Franz - Deer in a Monastery Garden - Google Art Project.jpg, Franz Marc, ''Deer in a Monastery Garden'' File:Marc, Franz - The Tiger - Google Art Project.jpg, Franz Marc, ''The Tiger''

Provenance Research

The Lenbachhaus systematically checks the provenance of artworks created before 1945 that entered the collection after 1933. In addition to the examination of the museum's own collection holdings, preliminary reviews of possible new acquisitions, assumptions of permanent loans, or endowments also take place. The Lenbachhaus is one of several German museums that are researching the art collector Carl Heumann (1886–1945), who after building in the 1920s and 1930s an important collection of prints of German and Austrian art of the 18th and 19th centuries, was persecuted because of his Jewish origins under the National Socialist regime. The Lenbachhaus approached Carl Heumann's descendants in order to find a just and fair solution regarding the artworks from his collection.

References

External links

Lenbachhaus websiteLenbachhaus
within

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

* {{Authority control Modern art museums in Germany Buildings and structures in Munich Historicist architecture in Munich Art museums and galleries in Munich Maxvorstadt