🇦 Editor's Note
Welcome to the first edition of ace museums, where I write about museums and share links to inspire you.
🎨 How to write about a museum
There are as many ways to describe a museum as there are visitors to a museum.
As I walked around the Alte Pinakothek in Munich recently, I thought of the myriad ways one could write about a museum.
Alte Pinakothek, Gras-Ober, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
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The Alte Pinakothek presents a history of European art by the ‘Old Masters’. It is largely presented in chronological order, from the 14th to the 18th centuries, clustered around geographical regions. It includes important artists like Cranach, Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian. The gallery is at the heart of Munich’s museum district, and is considered to be a world-leading collection.
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There are more than 700 paintings on display. These are in 17 large gallery rooms, some with deep red and moss green walls. There are also 23 smaller rooms, running in parallel to most of the main gallery rooms, kind of like a corridor. Only by room 12, did I notice a painting by a female artist - Rosalba Carriera. The large rooms are denoted by Roman numerals.
alte = old | pinax = board / tablet | theke = box / storage place.
When you first enter the Alte Pinakothek, you come into a high, imposing space with minimal design. There are very few wall signs or posters. An elegant, modern dark wood desk is to your right. Four modern dark leather square seats are to your left. The impression is impressive, an august institution.
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When it opened, the Alte Pinakothek was the largest museum in the world. It is 150 metres long, 50 metres wide and 25 metres high.
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Signs in the Alte Pinakothek highlighted a re-hang of its collections, the first since it was founded in 1836. This re-hang changed the order, away from chronological to more thematic, aims to inspire connections or contrasts between paintings. Newly located artworks were identified with dark blue labels. For some visitors, this may be sacrilegious. Chronology - a journey through time - is all-important. But I like the conversations that the new juxtapositions could spark.
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Plenty of paintings in the Pinakothek are pretty, polychrome and profound. Playful, powerful, political, they provide personal and professional provocations. The portfolio promises pleasing, poignant, profound and purposeful possibilities.
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The staff of the Alte Pinakothek are dressed formally. They wear dark suits, with white shirts. Some wear jackets, while those attending the galleries wear dark navy waistcoats.
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I visited on a sunny Saturday afternoon in September. The museum was busy, but not crowded. There were up to 8 visitors in each room. I was struck by their silence. The visitors were quietly whispering to themselves. There was a hushed, reverential feeling, each person silently absorbed in the art.
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AI says: Visiting Munich’s Alte Pinakothek feels like stepping into centuries of artistic mastery. Vast galleries reveal Renaissance brilliance, Baroque drama, and delicate Flemish detail. The calm atmosphere invites contemplation, while the collection’s breadth sparks awe, reverence, and timeless cultural connection.
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As soon as visitors got too close to the paintings, alarms sounded. This happened about 4 or 5 times during my visit. Most visitors just ignored the alarms.
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Quiz: How old is Rembrandt in his self-portrait in the Alte Pinakothek?
A - 18
B - 23
C - 30
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The Alte Pinakothek is designed to make you feel small, humble. You enter through tall imposing doors, into a space with a high ceiling. You feel small, inconsequential. There are few signs to help you. After paying, you climb long staircases - as if ascending a mountain. In the galleries, the labels use words and phrases like 'pictorial visions', 'grisaille depiction', 'marginally oblique angle' and do not explain themselves well. Everything in the building is designed to impress, to establish the authority of the museum and not the visitor.
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In the cafe, a small water or coffee was €3.90 with a slice of cake costing around €5 - €6.
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From online reviews:
This place wasn’t originally on our itinerary, but since it was pouring outside, we are glad we were able to get in when we did.
The art was really amazing but I did not like the design of the gallery, starting with the giant entry doors which are not welcoming.
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Albrecht Dürer's portrait is described as strikingly modern. He portrays himself as Jesus Christ, but looks for all the world like an insufferable hipster artist with high opinions of himself.
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From the Munich City Museum:
Munich is an art city - a reputation forged both at home and abroad, largely thanks to the art policies of Bavarian kings in the 19th century. By 1900, Munich had become one of Europe's most important art hubs. Its museums and collections, academies, exhibition spaces and booming art market drew artists from all over Europe.
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Thank you for reading + until next time,