Germany is home to some of the world’s most influential modernist and contemporary art movements. We take a look at the best exhibitions taking place around the country in 2025.
There’s a reason people love visiting art galleries – and Germany has some of the very best.
Make time to spend an hour or two surrounded by vast sculptures or intimate canvasses this summer, let your thoughts drift on a sea of unexpected colours, and delight in the human urge to create.
We’ve selected our pick of the best shows to visit this year, guaranteed to help you see the world from a new perspective.
Katharina Grosse, Wunderbild: Deichtorhallen, Hamburg until September 14th
Over 60 metres long, Katharina Grosse’s show “Wunderbild” consists of massive, painted fabric panels suspended from the ceiling of a vast, repurposed market hall. The colour, form and sound (music by Stefan Schneider) combine to create an immersive experience which will leave all your senses feeling like new.
The show takes place in Hamburg’s monumental “Deichtor halls”, originally constructed between 1911 and 1913, and combining steel-and-glass architecture to create a rare example of early 20th-century industrial design incorporating both Jugendstil and modernism.
The artwork CHOIR (2025) by German artist Katharina Grosse as part of the Messeplatz project at Art Basel 2025. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Keystone / Georgios Kefalas
Stress test. Art between politics and society: Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin until September 28th
As Berlin’s foremost institution for twentieth-century art, the Neue Nationalgalerie has a collection to die for, offering a deep dive into some of the strangest (and darkest) corners of recent history as well as a window into what’s happening today.
The gallery’s current blockbuster exhibition shows off the collection perfectly.
Running until September 28th, Zerreißprobe represents a major exploration of the relationship between art, politics and society since the end of World War Two.
Bringing together works from East and West Germany, key pieces from Western Europe and the USA, globally recognised legends, and artists who’ve been unjustly forgotten, the exhibition demonstrates the way in which artists have navigated ideological extremes, censorship, and utopian dreams – and created work which has shaped society in its turn.
Zerreißprobe features work by Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Francis Bacon, Rebecca Horn, Bruce Nauman, Andy Warhol, and many others.
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Five Friends, Cy Twombly and friends: Museum Brandhorst, Munich until August 17th
Munich’s Brandhorst Museum has one of the world’s most extensive collections of work by the American artist Cy Twombly (1928–2011), a giant of twentieth century art whose incorporation of ideas from ancient art into contemporary modernist practices has influenced everyone from Anselm Kiefer to Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
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This summer, the museum’s permanent collection is joined by “Five Friends”, an exhibition exploring the circle of friends who had such a decisive and interconnected influence on post-war art in the fields of music (John Cage), dance (Merce Cunningham), painting (Jasper Johns), sculpture (Robert Rauschenberg) and drawing (Cy Twombly himself).
Yoko Ono, Music of the Mind: Gropius Bau, Berlin until August 31st
Gropius Bau’s summer blockbuster show is dedicated to the legendary Yoko Ono, a pioneer of conceptual art whose work transcends genres and generations.
“Music of the Mind” brings together more than 200 artworks, including installations, scores, films, and participatory pieces, emphasizing Ono’s enduring commitment to peace, imagination, and collective activism.
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The Gropius Bau—one of Berlin’s most iconic exhibition venues with a history of staging ambitious cross-disciplinary projects—underscores the artist’s radical legacy by inviting visitors to become part of the art-making process themselves.
Irma Stern, zwischen Berlin und Kapstadt: Brücke-Museum, Berlin from October 18th 2025 – February 15th 2026
This autumn, the renowned Brücke-Museum spotlights German-South African artist Irma Stern, whose vibrant work forms a bridge between African and European modernism.
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Stern, who moved between Berlin and Cape Town, painted lush still lifes, portraits, and landscapes which pulse with colour, energy, and a cross-cultural sensibility rarely seen in twentieth-century art.
The Brücke-Museum itself, set in a luminous pine grove in Berlin’s Dahlem district, is famous as the home of the Brücke artists – the original bad boys of German Expressionism – whose canvases remain permanently on view.
Eager to paint the world as they thought it should be, the Brücke artists employed bright, non-naturalistic colours and a deliberately crude drawing technique.
Der Blaue Reiter, A new language: Lenbachhaus, Munich until early 2026
The Lenbachhaus in Munich, home of ‘Der Blaue Reiter’. Photo: picture alliance/dpa / Felix Hörhager
While the Brücke artists were causing scandals in the north of Germany, the artists of the Blue Rider were doing the same in the south – and the Lenbachhaus in Munich has comfortably the world’s most comprehensive collection of their work.
Similarly preoccupied with the challenges of depicting inner truth instead of outer appearances and employing non-natural colours and perspectives, the Blue Riders spent far less time than their northern contemporaries defending their rights to indulge in group nudity and casual sex – which may be part of the reason they rank among the most influential artistic collectives the world has ever seen.
The permanent collection in Munich, enhanced by a rich program of rotating exhibits exploring different aspects of the group’s legacy, is housed in a historic villa and contemporary annex.
Forgotten Avant-Garde – Queer Modernism and Julie Mehretu: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf from September 20th, 2025 – February 15th 2026 (K20) & May 10th – October 12th, 2025 (K21)
Düsseldorf’s Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen boldly foregrounds diversity and trailblazing creativity in two landmark shows in 2025.
“Forgotten Avant-Garde – Queer Modernism” at K20 rediscovers the LGBTQ+ pioneers whose creative energy shaped the modernist movement but who were often left out of mainstream narratives.
Over at K21, Julie Mehretu’s major solo exhibition presents her vast, dynamic paintings suffused with movement, migration, and urban complexity—a visual language that speaks directly to our globalized era.
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Both venues, famed for their stunning architecture and rotating displays from a world-class permanent collection (featuring Klee, Kandinsky, Bacon, and more), exemplify why Düsseldorf is a must-visit destination for contemporary and modern art lovers.
ART COLOGNE: Koelnmesse, Cologne November 6th – 9th, 2025
Not a traditional gallery or museum exhibition but Europe’s longest running and most influential art fair, ART COLOGNE is open to collectors, connoisseurs, and curious members of the public alike.
For four days in November, Cologne’s giant Koelnmesse will become a buzzing international meeting point, with about 200 top galleries presenting the newest, boldest, and rarest works in painting, sculpture, photography, digital art, and installations.
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What truly sets ART COLOGNE apart is its unique blend of the commercial and the curatorial. Visitors can view, discuss, and acquire art directly, keeping an eye out for world-renowned artists and tomorrow’s avant-garde.
Special exhibitions round out the experience, creating an atmosphere that simply can’t be duplicated in a traditional museum or gallery setting.
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