About us
Mission Statement
The Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and the Kunstbau are the exhibition venues of an internationally renowned municipal museum in Munich that brings the presentation of art and the discourse around it together in a fruitful and distinctive synthesis.
The Lenbachhaus collects, conserves, studies, and presents the art of the nineteenth century, the Blauer Reiter, the New Objectivity, aswell as international contemporary art.
Its collecting activities and exhibition programming are closely coordinated and complement each other. They keep art lovers in Munich as well as international audiences abreast of major developments in the arts. The Lenbachhaus prioritizes novel and moving creative expressions over generally accepted positions. It seeks to arrange the works in its collections in forever new groups, bringing out unexpected interactions and trying out different forms of presentation while implementing an exhibition program that draws its energies from the dynamic dialogue between the new and contemporary and the solid historic foundation on which the collection rests.
Munich has always been a major center for the arts and art-historical developments. One element of the Lenbachhaus’s mission is to identify, nourish, and present innovative trends.
Introducing broad and diverse audiences to art is an increasingly important part of what we do. Helping our visitors appreciate and engage with the art we display is no less central to our work than the classical mission of the museum.
History
Only a few years later, in 1933, the National Socialists seized power and began installing party loyalists in leadership positions in cultural institutions who implemented the new rulers' policies. Like other museums, the Lenbachhaus “purged” its collection, exhibited and acquired the works of artists who had the approval of the Nazi party, and in some instances enlarged its collection by making purchases that, in today's perspective, were clearly illegitimate.
In 1944–45, the museum suffered heavy damage from bombing raids. The collections had been moved to safe storage, but the unique interiors of Lenbach's studio wing were largely destroyed. The first postwar exhibition of works by Munich artists was held in the provisionally restored north wing in June 1947.
In 1957, a singularly generous donation by Gabriele Münter transformed the Lenbachhaus into a world-class museum. On occasion of her eightieth birthday, the artist gave the Städtische Galerie a large collection of works by Wassily Kandinsky dating from before 1914, as well as art by Münter herself, fellow members of the Blue Rider, and other artists in the group's orbit. With subsequent acquisitions of important works and donations, including one in honor of the eminent patron and collector of works by Franz Marc and August Macke, Bernhard Koehler, the Lenbachhaus emerged as the world's leading institution dedicated to the presentation and scholarly study of the art of the Blue Rider.
Beginning in the 1970s, the museum mounted exhibitions that highlighted major tendencies in Western contemporary art. But it was only in the 1980s, after the controversy around the acquisition of Joseph Beuys's "show your wound," that the collection development policy was reoriented toward the work of living artists.
The Lenbachhaus Kunstbau, a large underground exhibition space on the mezzanine level above the Königsplatz subway station designed by the Munich architect Uwe Kiessler, was inaugurated in 1994. Located in the immediate vicinity of the Lenbachhaus, the Kunstbau has enabled the museum to present large special exhibitions.
Between 2009 and 2013, the main building underwent a comprehensive renovation based on plans by Foster + Partners. An extension from the 1970s by Heinrich Volbehr and Rudolf Thönessen that was no longer adequate was torn down and replaced with a new structure with state-of-the-art facilities that affords the museum greater flexibility in its exhibition and event programming. Today's Lenbachhaus is an attractive destination beloved by visitors from Munich and the region, throughout Germany, and around the world.




Annual Reports (in German)
Cultural institutions’ climate footprints
The German Federal Cultural Foundation has launched "Klimabilanzen in Kulturinstitutionen," a pilot project that helps nineteen cultural institutions implement a so-called "convoy process" to prepare climate budgets and gauge their carbon footprints. We are pleased that the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau is among the nineteen participating cultural institutions, making the project in Munich part of this pioneering initiative.
Library
Our library currently has ca. 70,000 items in a variety of media. The focus of its collection is on three fields: nineteenth-century Munich painting, the Blue Rider, and selected aspects of post-1945 art.
In 2009, we began to build an online catalogue of our holdings in the framework of the Bibliotheksverbund Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg (B3Kat). Accessing our database via B3Kat's union catalog or our OPAC, users may search our holdings.
Books may not be removed from the museum, but may be consulted by guests; visits must be arranged in advance.
Kollektiv Crèmbach
Kollektiv Crèmbach gives a voice to young people in the Munich art scene. Based at the Lenbachhaus it strives to create a democratic museum. Going from this idea, Kollektiv Crèmbach wants to create a space for networks, plurality and own proprietary creation.
E-Mail: kollektiv.crembachgmailcom
Coordinator:
Charlotte Coosemans, Art Education, Youth Advisory Board
T +49 (0) 89 233 82623, charlotte.coosemansmuenchende
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation
Die Vielen (The Many)
Cultural institutions in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, and many other cities and German states have joined the alliance DIE VIELEN (THE MANY). At a press conference on February 1, 2019, numerous institutions all over Bavaria followed suit, adopting their own resolution. In this Bavarian DECLARATION OF THE MANY, the initial signatories announced two "Splendid Demonstrations" for a "EUROPE OF THE MANY." The events, which were held in Nuremberg and Munich on May 19, 2019, as part of a nationwide series of rallies, championed the beauty of diversity.
The Lenbachhaus is among the initial signatories and supports the alliance of THE MANY. Our program reflects the rich diversity of our society and encourages an engagement with themes such as dialogue, freedom, pluralism, and equality. We are committed to being open to all people regardless of their national origin, skin color, religion, gender, or worldview.



