Museum

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Germany

Among the well-known art museums in Germany are the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, whose collections date from the early 16th century. Artists represented in its collection include Albrecht Dürer, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Hans Holbein the Younger, as well as early Flemish and German painters. The Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) in Berlin has European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century. At the New National Gallery, paintings and sculpture from the 18th to the 20th century are displayed. The collection of 20th-century German paintings includes Berlin portraits and cityscapes by George Grosz and Otto Dix. Berlin’s Bauhaus Museum is dedicated to the school of design that launched modernism throughout the world (see Bauhaus). In Cologne, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum surveys six centuries of painting as well as contemporary art. Museums of contemporary art in Germany include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Frankfurt, the Staatsgalerie (State Gallery) in Stuttgart, and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.

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Austria

The personal collection of the Habsburg family gave rise to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. This encyclopedic museum is especially well known for its works by the old masters. There are paintings from every European school and artist, with major works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Albertina museum in Vienna has one of the largest and most outstanding collections of graphic art in the world.

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The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum (National Museum) in Amsterdam has the largest collection of Dutch art in the world. Amsterdam’s museums also include the Van Gogh Museum, where the works of the modern Dutch master Vincent Van Gogh are displayed, and the Stedelijk Museum, which has a collection of contemporary art. The Mauritshuis museum at The Hague, formed from the collections of the princes of the House of Orange, is renowned for its collection of 17th-century Dutch masterpieces.

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Russia

The most famous museum in Russia is the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Opened to the public in 1852, it occupies an enormous neoclassical 19th-century building reconstructed from the Winter Palace of Catherine the Great. One of the largest museums in the world, its collections encompass all of Western European art, cultures and arts of the ancient world, and a history of Russian culture. Its collections of Italian Renaissance and French impressionist paintings are world-renowned.

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In Moscow, the State Tretyakov Gallery has a collection of Russian art from the 11th through the 20th century, including more than 40,000 Russian religious objects. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow has a large collection of Western European paintings. The museum also holds gold treasures and other artifacts from the legendary city of Troy, which were discovered by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the 19th century. The Trojan artifacts, believed lost for decades until their existence was revealed in the 1990s, were seized as trophy art by Soviet forces occupying Germany after World War II. For more information, see the subsection Ownership of Museum Objects in the Trends and Challenges section of this article. See also Greek Art and Architecture; Roman Art and Architecture; Romanesque Art and Architecture; Gothic Art and Architecture; Renaissance Art and Architecture.

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Latin America

The rich and varied pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial heritage of Mexico, Central America, and South America is reflected in the many history, art, and anthropology museums in these countries.

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