During a study trip to Berlin in February 2013 we went to see a few iconic pieces of architecture. Out of all of them, the Neue Nationalgalerie was the one that stood out to me. It was built by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, famous for designing the Barcelona Pavillion in Spain and the Farnsworth House in the US. The gallery was built in 1968 and portrays Mies Van Der Rohe's minimalist style. The point of this visit wasn't to admire the art but instead we were told to look at the way art was exhibited. This goes hand in hand with our current project, a building renovation that should hold an exhibition space.
The reason I was fascinated by this exhibition was the way art was shown to the public. The way light and shadow is introduced onto the art piece. In the last picture I find that the shadow plays an even more important role than the objects themselves.
To keep in theme with the gallery's simplicity and straight lines, the paintings are shown on parallel bars. This also gives a new way of circulating around the paintings. Normally we would walk in a straight line, stop and turn to look at painting. In this way you have to circulate around the other paintings to find a spot where you want to see the art. As Mies Van Der Rohe is famous for staying simple, the exhibition area looks bigger than it really is only because the walls are of a white colour and the space isn't overcrowded with art works.
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