Continental Drifters - Day Seven

After a harrowing day of travel involving five hours on two different trains and a connection between our delayed train from Vienna to Salzburg and the train from Salzburg to Munich that totaled a whopping four minutes, we arrived at last at the last destination in our European foray. As it was already late in the afternoon, we were limited in our tourism options, but were determined not to let the day go by without at least seeing something, so we decided to take advantage of extended Thursday hours to check out the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Although Dad thought the museum channeled the inside of a prison, the Pinakothek der Moderne is often considered to be a masterpiece of contemporary architecture.

Part of a complex of several art museums focusing on different eras of art, the Pinakothek der Moderne focuses on "Classical Modernism" i.e. Picasso, Matisse, the great German Expressionists (including some fantastic pieces by Max Beckmann, one of my favorite artists), and the great Surrealists (with outstanding selections from Max Ernst, along with De Chirico and a smattering of Dali) and Contemporary Art, which Dad hated. I am somewhat ambivalent about contemporary art. I respect it's right to exist, even if I don't always understand it, and I occasionally enjoy it, such as some paintings by a Dutch artist that was new to me, Sigmar Polke.

Max Beckmann

Max Ernst

Sigmar Polke

We found more common ground in the Design section, where we took in some great twentieth century furniture and industrial design in what is considered to be one of the strongest design exhibitions in the world. We found particular delight in tracing the advancement of computer technologies. Humorously, with the rise of netbooks, we seem to have returned to the screen size of the earliest computers.

When we left the museum, it was pouring down rain, which, unfortunately, proved to be somewhat of an ominous sign of things to come for the remainder of our stay in Munich.