Museum Neues Weimar - Wege zum Bauhaus

Description

The Grand Ducal Museum was opened in 1869 as one of the first German museum buildings. The Czech architect Josef Zítek designed the domed central building in the Neo-Renaissance style. The side projections of the Neues Museum Weimar are spanned by glazed tent roofs. In the early 1920s, groundbreaking exhibitions of modern art took place here. Due to extensive damage in World War II, the building had to be closed in 1952. Since 1988, dedicated citizens have managed to secure the remaining ruins. In the Cultural City Year of 1999, the building was reopened as the Neues Museum Weimar with works of the international avant-garde from the Paul Maenz collection. Since its removal in 2004, the Neues Museum has showcased the remaining donations and acquisitions from the Paul Maenz collection in rotation with special exhibitions. Additionally, work holdings and collection bundles are presented that represent important periods and positions of contemporary art, such as from the GAG collection, from the estate of Rupprecht Geiger or Raimund Girke. The works of contemporary art are complemented by special exhibitions from modern to contemporary times. The staircase and the Preller Gallery located on the first floor are the centerpiece of the museum. The monumental sculpture "Goethe and Psyche" above the stair landing was created by Carl Steinhäuser in 1851 based on a design by Bettina von Arnim in Rome. In 1999, the staircase was newly designed by the French conceptual artist Daniel Buren for the reopening. In the Preller Gallery, a cycle of 16 frescoes with scenes from the Odyssey by Friedrich Preller the Elder is displayed. After the removal of the Paul Maenz collection in 2004, the Neues Museum Weimar continued to display the remaining donations of the collector. The works of contemporary art are complemented by special exhibitions from classicism to contemporary times. A major attraction is the installation "The Room" by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist from 1998, presented in the foyer. In April 2019, the museum, which had been used for temporary exhibitions, reopened with a new name and with a permanent presentation of early modern art from the Weimar Painting School to Henry van de Velde. In the new permanent exhibition "Van de Velde, Nietzsche and Modernism around 1900" of the Neues Museum Weimar, outstanding, international works of realism, impressionism, and art nouveau are shown. They reflect a simultaneously contradictory and splendid era with many references to today. In the tension field around Friedrich Nietzsche as a visionary thinker and cult figure, the exhibition presents important positions of Early Modernism in Weimar with Harry Graf Kessler and Henry van de Velde. In the museum workshop, visitors can engage in craft activities related to the exhibition´s themes.

"Concert for Buchenwald" in the historic tram depot – the annex of the Neues Museum Weimar – exhibits Rebecca Horn´s spatial installation "Concert for Buchenwald," staged in 1999. The internationally recognized work is considered one of the most significant examples of the Holocaust theme in contemporary art in Germany. During the summer opening hours, the installation can be seen on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the tram depot.