Alte Pinakothek and the Pinakotheken

The Kunstareal, the art quarter in the Maxvorstadt just north of the old town, is one of the densest clusters of museums in Europe, and at its heart are the three Pinakotheken, the state painting galleries of Bavaria. The Alte Pinakothek, opened in 1836 in a long palazzo-style building by the court architect Leo von Klenze, holds one of the finest collections of European painting from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, built on centuries of Wittelsbach collecting. Its German rooms include Albrecht Duerer's famous self-portrait in a fur-trimmed coat, painted in 1500, in which the artist presents himself almost as Christ, and Albrecht Altdorfer's Battle of Alexander at Issus, a cosmic battle scene under a swirling sky. The Flemish holdings are spectacular, above all the Rubens hall, where the painter's Great Last Judgement, more than six metres high, fills a wall on the upper floor, and there are major works by Rembrandt, including a youthful self-portrait painted at about twenty-three, as well as Italian, Spanish and French masters. The building was fully renovated in recent years. The Neue Pinakothek, home of nineteenth-century art from Goya and Turner to the Impressionists and Van Gogh, is closed for a general renovation, with reopening planned for 2029; in the meantime a selection of its key works is shown on the ground floor of the Alte Pinakothek's east wing and in the Sammlung Schack. Across the street, the Pinakothek der Moderne gathers four museums under one roof, for modern and contemporary art, works on paper, architecture and design, and the Museum Brandhorst, with its multicoloured ceramic facade, shows contemporary art, including a large Cy Twombly collection. The Alte Pinakothek opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm, with late opening to 8pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and is closed on Mondays. Admission is nine euros, and on Sundays just one euro at all the Pinakotheken, while a twelve-euro day ticket covers the Alte Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Museum Brandhorst and the Sammlung Schack. Under-18s are free.

How to plan your visit: the Alte Pinakothek is the priority for most visitors, and two hours is enough for the highlights if you go straight to the Duerer and Altdorfer rooms, the Rubens hall and the Dutch cabinets. Art lovers can easily spend a whole day in the Kunstareal by adding the Pinakothek der Moderne in the afternoon, especially its design collection, which ranges from furniture and cars to computers, and the Museum Brandhorst. If the Neue Pinakothek's Impressionists are what you came for, look for the nineteenth-century highlights on the ground floor of the Alte Pinakothek's east wing and in the Sammlung Schack, a small gallery of German Romantic painting near the Prinzregentenstrasse, which opens Wednesday to Sunday.

When to go: Sundays bring one-euro admission and therefore larger crowds, especially in bad weather, so if you prefer quiet rooms, choose a weekday morning or one of the late evenings, when the Alte Pinakothek stays open until 8pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the Pinakothek der Moderne and the Brandhorst on Thursdays. The museums are closed on Mondays, on Shrove Tuesday, 1 May and 24, 25 and 31 December, and occasionally close early for events, such as the Pinakothek der Moderne on 21 November 2026, when it closes at 1pm.

Around the Kunstareal: the neighbourhood also holds the Koenigsplatz, Ludwig I's classical square with the Glyptothek of ancient sculpture and the State Collections of Antiquities, the Lenbachhaus with its celebrated Blue Rider collection of Kandinsky, Marc and Muenter, and a lively student quarter around the university with plenty of cafes. The museum lawns are a popular picnic spot in summer. Trams 27 and 28 stop at Pinakotheken, and the U2 station at Koenigsplatz and the U3 and U6 at Universitaet are a short walk away.