Kunsthalle Bremen

Founded in 1823 by a private society of Bremen merchants and art lovers, the Kunsthalle Bremen is one of Germany's oldest civic art museums and holds one of the country's most significant collections outside Berlin and Munich. Its galleries move chronologically from Old Master drawings and paintings by Durer, Rembrandt and Rubens through 19th-century German Romanticism and French Impressionist works by Monet, Manet and Degas, into a strong holding of German Expressionism including Paula Modersohn-Becker, whose separate dedicated museum sits nearby on Bottcherstrasse, and on to postwar and contemporary art. The building itself combines a 19th-century neoclassical wing with a modern glass extension added in 2011 that houses temporary exhibitions and the print and drawing cabinet. A thorough visit runs 1.5 to 2.5 hours, longer for visitors following the collection room by room; the museum's Tuesday evening hours until 9PM are the best window for a relaxed visit without the daytime school-group traffic that fills the galleries on weekday mornings. The graphic arts study room, open by request, lets visitors examine works on paper not otherwise on display. Photography without flash is generally permitted in the permanent collection, though special exhibitions often restrict it under loan agreements with lending institutions.