The Alte Pinakothek

I'm trying to finally catch up on blog-posting... here is the last of the "touristy"things I did with my parents -- last but certainly not the least!  

   We spent Wednesday morning (Oct 10th, their last day here) in the marvelous Alte Pinakothek, which is one of the five Pinakothek art museums in Munich.  This is probably the most famous, housing a huge collection of "Old Master" European paintings, ranging from the 13th to 18th century.  (The Neue Pinakothek has 19th works, the Pinakothek der Moderne, you guessed it, the more modern works, but there are a couple more-recently-built smaller art museums also.)  Official Alte Pinakothek site

The building itself is massive and imposing but in many places naturally lit with beautiful windows and skylights.  It originally opened in 1836, but was heavily damaged by the second world war.  Actually, when it was rebuilt in 1957, the architect Hans Döllgast chose to replace the many sections of damaged façade in the center with bare bricks -- so that the "wounds" of the building can still be seen.  Very effective I think as an architectural memorial (and I wish I'd taken a picture... but you can kind of see it here).

Once inside, the stairway to the second floor is impressive too.

All the major works are in a long sequence of galleries on this top floor.  The galleries themselves are large and airy and colorful -- it's lovely just to be in the space  The building was designed with a huge center gallery specifically in order to display Rubens' "Great Last Judgement," apparently one of the largest canvasses ever painted.   I took a picture of it, but this doesn't begin to capture the impact of standing in front of (well... beneath) it.

 Peter Paul Rubens:  The Great Last Judgement,  from 1617  (it's over 6 meters high, nearly 20 ft)

In the same gallery, are two of my favorite (for whatever reason) paintings by Rubens, both of them quite violent, really:

Rubens Lion Hunt ca. 1621

Rubens The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus  1617/1618

 There are lots more Rubens masterpieces in the museum.  (Dad is looking here at The Death of Seneca, where the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca is forced to commit suicide after being accused of treason by his own student, Emperor Nero.)

After I got over being blown away by the lush color and movement (and nudity) in all the Rubens, I started appreciating the other works.  I wish I knew more about them, but here are a few that particularly impressed me.  (You're only allowed to take pictures without flash, or tripod, so these are not great, but if you're interested it's easy to find good images of all these masterpieces on the official website.)

Raphael The Canigiani Holy Family ca. 1505/6

Raphael Madonna and Child ca. 1508

 Leonardo da Vinci Virgin and Child  ca. 1473  (I believe this is Leonardo's earliest known work; he was 21 years old.)

Fra Filippo Lippi The Annunciation ca. 1450

And lastly, check out the look on the face of the apostle Paul in the far right of these 7-ft high panels by Albrecht Dürer.  (St. Mark, beside him, isn't looking so trustworthy either...)

Albrecht Dürer, The Four Apostles 1526

I'm the first to say I am very ignorant about art history (except for the little I "had to" learn as it related to music history) but the works in the Alte Pinakothek are astounding.   I will go back, and check out the other Pinakotheks too!  (Consider coming with me... :-) )

Finally, as a post-sciprt to this last day of Mom and Dad's visit, we made a quick side trip to the Asamkirche (officially the St. Johann Nepomuk church, but known by the name of the Asam brothers who built it in the mid-1700's).  This small Catholic church is famous for being the very epitome of over-the-top Baroque ornamentation.  There is essentially no surface left undecorated.

View down the narrow interior.  

The ceiling painting is hard to see here but full of angels and celestial glory, with a tower looking like it points straight up to heaven (Babylon?) if you look at it from the right angle.

In the entrance, however, is some interesting statuary.  Apparently this represents "Fate cutting the string of life"... (see the scissors in the skeleton's hand?)

So, sadly, Mom and Dad left (over a week ago now) so I'm not doing as many touristy things these days.  My 4-week intensive German class at the Göthe Institute starts tomorrow though (I took the placement test today, Oct 22), so I'll get lots more German culture via language for the next little while...