Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) in Berlin, also known as the “temple of light and glass” designed by Mies van der Rohe, houses an extensive collection of 20th century European painting and sculpture ranging from early modern art to art of the 1960s. The collection owns masterpieces of artists like Pablo Picasso, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Joan Miró, Wassily Kandinsky and Barnett Newman.

The gallery was built in 1968, and was the first building completed as a part of Berlin’s Kulturforum, a cluster of buildings dedicated to culture and the fine arts. The glass walls and the elimination of all interior columns emphasizes the idea of free space as a place for artists to present their work, and also a shelter to protect visitors and contents from the elements. The podium roof plaza is itself another open air gallery for public sculpture, extending the exhibit space of the pavilion to the outside.

The museum’s ceiling, constructed as a grid of black-painted steel grid of beams, has been used as an exhibit surface in itself when used for an installation of long lines of LCD displays by artist Jenny Holzer in 2001, which continuously scrolled abstract patterns down their length.

Space seemed to be not an issue in Berlin at all. There is simply lots of it. And artworks are allocated according their needs, allowed to have their space and can breathe easily. Therefore there is a different feel and approach to work from both artists and audience.

Getting there: Public Transport -  U-Bahn U2 (Potsdamer Platz), S-Bahn S1, S2, S25 (Potsdamer Platz), Bus M29 (Potsdamer Brücke); M41 (Varian-Frey-Straße); M48 (Kulturforum); 200, 347 (Philharmonie.