Masterworks of the 19th Century
With paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, Adolph Menzel or Claude Monet, the Alte Nationalgalerie shows masterworks of the 19th century. The tour includes works of Classicism, Romanticism and Modern Art.

The German Romantics – Caspar David Friedrich and Co.
The Alte Nationalgalerie houses many paintings from the era of German Romanticism. Caspar David Friedrich’s Mönch am Meer (Monk by the Sea) and his Abtei im Eichwald (Abbey in the Oakwood) are the best known works among them. And yet, there are other painters, including Carl Blechen and Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who decisively helped shape this epoch.
 

Adolf Menzel – A Painter of History and Society
Adolf Menzel’s paintings are fully committed to realism. This is particularly apparent in his work Das Eisenwalzwerk (The Iron Rolling Mill (Modern Cyclopes)). Menzel’s numerous works portraying the life of Frederick the Great are also well known. However, more than just his large-scale works are on view at the Alte Nationalgalerie ‒ there are also small oil paintings that capture the magic of a fleeting moment.
 

Impressionism – Monet, Renoir, Cézanne
The Alte Nationalgalerie presents masterpieces of French painting, including important works such as Monet’s Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois and Renoir’s Blühender Kastanienbaum (Flowering Chestnut Tree). Many other paintings illustrate the development of Impressionism and its influence on German painting.
 

Altes Museum
The Altes Museum – Highlights of Greek and Roman Antiquity
Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Altes Museum is one of the most important buildings of Classicism. Starting at the central rotunda with sculptures of deities, the tour leads to highlights of the collection of antiques and the most famous couple of Roman history: Caesar and Cleopatra

Greek clay figures - small everyday testimonies, great art
Experience the thematic and artistic diversity of ancient clay figures. In conversation with cultural mediators, you will learn when and where the figures were used in everyday life. Using individual pieces, you can understand how clay figures of outstanding quality could be created through the skilful combination of serially produced parts and the often still preserved painting.
 

Bode-Museum
Bernini, Canova, Riemenschneider – Masterpieces from Five Centuries
The Bode-Museum has an unrivalled sculpture collection and impressive architecture. The tour presents masterpieces of medieval woodcarving by Riemenschneider, Baroque marble figures by Bernini and Neoclassical sculptures by Canova.

Botticelli, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt
A Who’s Who of art history awaits you in one of the world’s most important collections of European painting with artists including Botticelli, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Rubens. The tour offers an entertaining and inspiring overview of the Gemäldegalerie (Old Master Paintings) collection.




 

Hugo van der Goes
For the special exhibition "Hugo van der Goes. Between Pain and Bliss" (31.03.2023 to 16.07.2023)
Visit the exhibition with your family or friends. An art mediator will accompany you on your individual tour. In a personal conversation, you will learn details about the exhibited works, the exhibition concept and the historical background. Secure your preferred date!

Cost: € 90, foreign language: € 100

From the 1960s Until the Present
The Hamburger Bahnhof shows art from the 1960s until the present in temporary theme-based exhibitions. A tour to the works by Joseph Beuys, Robert Smithson, Hanne Darboven, Candida Höfer and contemporary artists invites you to investigate fundamental developments from the 1960s until the present.
 

Art and Society
Social and political contexts can be used as starting points to engage with works of art. In one approach, works of art can be interpreted historically within the context of their own time. But seen in another light, they offer us an opportunity to associate and compare them with current topics from today’s perspective. Whether historical or topical issues, we would like to explore these social contexts with you in exhibition talks.

The new presentation of the ethnological collection.
The collection areas of West Africa, Oceania and ethnomusicology as well as contemporary art from the societies of origin will be presented. Questions of provenance, restitution and colonial continuities will be addressed.

Duration: 60 Minutes
German  and foreign language: 160 € each
Limited number of participants.
Bookable under +493099 211 8989 (daily 10am to 6pm)
ttps://www.humboldtforum.org/de/kontakt/

The new presentation of the Museum of Asian Art
Visitors will gain an insight into the new presentation of the outstanding art collections from South, Southeast, East and Central Asia. Questions of provenance and restitution as well as colonial continuities will also be discussed.

Duration: 60 Minutes
German  and foreign language: 160 € each
Limited number of participants.
Bookable under +493099 211 8989 (daily 10am to 6pm)
ttps://www.humboldtforum.org/de/kontakt/

Colonial present
Ever since its foundation stone was laid, the Humboldt Forum has been involved in the debate surrounding the subject of colonialism. With the aid of selected objects from the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, visitors explore the issues of provenance, the restitution of cultural property, and the effects of colonialism on our society today.

Duration: 60 Minutes
German  and foreign language: 160 € each
Limited number of participants.
Bookable under +493099 211 8989 (daily 10am to 6pm)
ttps://www.humboldtforum.org/de/kontakt/

The Architecture of the James-Simon-Galerie
The new entrance building, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, complements the World Heritage site on Museumsinsel (Museum Island). It references neoclassical motifs of the neighbouring museum buildings while setting contemporary accents at the same time. The tour focuses on the significance of the new building within the Museumsinsel ensemble, the history of the new building’s construction and its architectural features.

Special Exhibition: Archaeological Treasures of Uzbekistan. From Alexander the Great to the Kushan Empire (4.5.2023 to 14.1.2024)

Visit the exhibition with your family or friends. Amediator will accompany you on your individual tour. In a personal conversation, you will learn details about the exhibited works, the exhibition concept and the historical background. Secure your preferred date!

Cost: 100 €

Basketry
Basketry is a handicraft practised worldwide, which no machines have yet managed to master. The interactive exhibition ALL HANDS ON: Basketry brings together experience, knowledge, innovation and histories related to the subject of basketry. Who weaves? With what? Why? The tour traces the development of an artisanal craft closely tied to issues such as economic growth, globalisation and social injustice. The walk-in installation Geflochtene Garten (Woven Garden) by artist Olaf Holzapfel is a particular highlight.

Cost: 100 €

Tour: Flashes of Memory. Photography During the Holocaust
Under what circumstances and from what perspectives were photographs of the Shoah taken? How are the anti-Semitic Nazi crimes visually documented? In the guided tour you will learn about the possibilities and limitations of photography as a technique, medium and historical source. The following topics will be covered: Photography in National Socialism, photographs from the ghettos, and photographs of the liberation of the concentration camps. An emphasis is placed on Jewish perspectives. Secure your preferred date!

The Museumsinsel / Museum Island – World Heritage in the heart of Berlin
The Museumsinsel located in the heart of Berlin was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. The unique ensemble unites five outstanding museum buildings of the 19th and the beginning 20th century. The tour provides an insight into the history of the Museumsinsel and its architecture and leads through highlights of the Altes Museum (Old Museum), the Neues Museum (New Museum) and the Pergamonmuseum.

Duration: 120 Minutes
Fee: 160 €

Tour of the Special Exhibition: Gerhard Richter: 100 Works for Berlin (1.4.2023 to 2026)

Painted History – Birkenau Cycle
Abstraction and reflection: How can the Holocaust be depicted? What are the implications and emotions of Gerhard Richter´s overpaintings? Next to the famous Birkenau Cycle, the exhibition shows almost 90 other works of the artist from several creative phases, which Richter has left to the Nationalgalerie on long-term loan.
 

Mies van der Rohe: Museum architecture in a new light
The Neue Nationalgalerie reopens its doors after a six-year renovation phase. What has changed as a result of the renovation? Why? The guided tour will focus on the stories and processes surrounding the renovations.
 

Tour of the Special Exhibition: Extreme Tension. Art between Politics and Society | Collection of the Nationalgalerie 1945 – 2000 (to 28.09.2025)

Confrontations. Art from 1945 to 2000
Abstraction and figuration, everyday life and pop, feminism and identity, nature and ecology: how can the history of the Nationalgalerie's collection be told? What social and political areas of tension are revealed? Art and society were renewing themselves. At the same time, the era was characterised by division and discord. A variety of methods, media and materials characterised the art of the second half of the 20th century. Find out more about the exciting background and book a personalised guided tour on the date of your choice!

Fascination for Nefertiti
The Nefertiti Bust is one of the most valuable objects of the Museumsinsel (Museum Island Berlin) and is of world renown. Being more than 3,000 years old, it shows an accomplished beauty: the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. In the tour through the Ägyptisches Museum (Egyptian Museum), the bust is discussed with regard to its historical significance and placed in relation with selected objects of the collection.
 

The Neues Museum by Star Architect David Chipperfield
Since its reopening in 2009, the Neues Museum refurbished by the British star architect David Chipperfield has won numerous prizes. The architecture tour focuses on the special quality of the construction, which combines historical elements with a contemporary design language.

Highlights of the Pergamonmuseum
On the trails of 2,500 years of human history, the tour leads through the Procession Street of ancient Babylon and the Market Gate of the Roman Miletus to the early Islamic Mshatta Facade and ends in the Aleppo Room from the 17th century.

The art of Surrealism
The presentation in the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection focuses on Surrealist art. The tour offers an insight into the pictorial worlds, visions and techniques of artists such as Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst or René Magritte and provides references to historical models of surrealist art.

Striking similarities
Tour of the special exhibition: Myth and Massacre. Ernst Wilhelm Nay and André Masson (08.12.2023 to 28.04.2024)

What do Surrealism and post-war modernism have in common? In terms of the artistic themes, the two artists, who never met, were driven by very different preoccupations. Whereas Masson focused on the memory of the savagery and destruction of the First World War (he was discharged in 1917 after suffering a severe chest injury), the young soldier Nay conjured an alternate, mythical world to counter the catastrophe of the Second World War. Find out more about the exhibition on a guided tour on the date of your choice.