The new building in the Kulturforum will permanently exhibit larger parts of the Nationalgalerie collections of 20th-century art for the first time. The collections encompass all the important 20th-century art movements in Europe and North America.
They include key works of Expressionism, Conceptual Art, and Land Art, as well as large-scale multimedia installations. There will be a special focus on art produced in Germany, for example, artistic positions such as “New Objectivity” or “Zero,” and art in the GDR. The Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) and Kunstbibliothek (Art Library) of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) will have their own exhibition spaces in the new museum building for graphic works, poster and book art, archival materials, and architectural models of the 20th century. In addition, visitors will see important private collections: the Marx Collection emphasizing Andy Warhol and Pop Art, on the one hand, and Joseph Beuys and Anselm Kiefer on the other; and the Ulla & Heiner Pietzsch Collection with Surrealist works by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and Max Ernst.
Along with extensive, flexible exhibition spaces, a large media and event hall will make restagings of performative works or film art possible.
The Nationalgalerie has only had only limited exhibition space for 20th-century art. Since 1968, only parts of the constantly growing collection could be exhibited in the Neue Nationalgalerie designed by Mies van der Rohe, and then only in rotating exhibitions. The new museum building will be connected to the Neue Nationalgalerie in both perspective and space. For the first time, it will be possible to see artistic developments spanning the 20th century in one exhibition tour through both houses.