Things to Do in Pinakothek Museums

Old Masters at the Alte Pinakothek

The collection here ranks among Europe's finest for Northern Renaissance and Baroque painting. Dürer's Four Apostles. Rubens's enormous Great Last Judgment. An interesting room of Cranachs that smell faintly of old varnish and wood. The pale yellow walls and natural overhead light make the canvases glow in a way that feels almost lit from within.

Pinakothek der Moderne

Four museums tucked under one soaring white rotunda: painting, graphic arts, architecture, and design. The design collection on the lower level is the sleeper hit. Bauhaus chairs, a hanging gallery of motorcycles and household objects, the kind of stuff that makes you reconsider your own toaster. The central atrium echoes pleasantly. Calm when it's quiet.

Sammlung Schack

A short walk from the main Pinakothek cluster, this smaller museum holds Count Schack's 19th-century German Romantic collection. Böcklin's misty mythological scenes. Feuerbach's pale classical women. The atmosphere is hushed and slightly melancholy, like stepping into someone's private study. It tends to be nearly empty, even on weekends.

Museum Brandhorst

Right next door to the Pinakothek der Moderne. Impossible to miss. The facade has 36,000 vertical ceramic rods in shifting colors. Step inside. You'll find one of Europe's strongest Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly collections, and the Twombly Lepanto cycle alone justifies the visit: a series of huge red-and-yellow canvases that seem to vibrate in the high white rooms.

Kunstareal Walking Loop

The Pinakothek museums sit inside a compact museum quarter you can stroll in an afternoon. Espresso bars, the Glyptothek's antiquities, and the NS-Dokumentationszentrum all sit within a few blocks. The smell of coffee from Türkenstraße cafés mixes with cigarette smoke from the art students milling outside the academy. A nice rhythm. One museum, a coffee, another museum.

Maxvorstadt: student-flavored, walkable to all the museums, with quiet leafy streets and unpretentious cafés

Schwabing: just north, slightly more polished, with good restaurants and proximity to the English Garden

Altstadt-Lehel: the old town, more touristy but central if you want to combine museums with Marienplatz

Ludwigsvorstadt: near the main station, mid-range hotels and easy onward transit, though the immediate streets are scruffy

Glockenbachviertel: a 20-minute walk south, lively bar scene at night, good for evening returns from the museums

Au-Haidhausen: across the Isar, residential and calm, with an unexpectedly good restaurant scene and easy U-Bahn access