The Sammlung Moderne Kunst (Collection of Modern Art) at Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne has launched a comprehensive exhibition showcasing its significant photographic holdings. The exhibition "On View: Encounters with Photography" features approximately 200 works by more than 60 artists spanning the past century to the present day, offering visitors a complete overview of how the Bavarian State Painting Collections' photography department has evolved since its inception.
For the first time, the Collection of Photography and Time-based Media and the Ann and Jürgen Wilde Foundation are jointly presenting outstanding works of artistic photography from their 20th and 21st-century collections in a single exhibition. The show ranges from flagship and renowned pieces to recent, previously unseen acquisitions, inviting visitors to rediscover familiar works while making new discoveries along the way.
When the Pinakothek der Moderne was founded in 2002, a dedicated Photography and Time-based Media department was established, actively integrating photography into the museum's collections. The department received a tremendous foundation through permanent loans from corporate collections, including Siemens (2003) and Allianz (2004), both focused on photography from the 1970s onward. These initial collections have been continuously expanded and enriched over the years.
A major milestone came in 2010 when the collection was significantly enhanced through the affiliation of the photographic collection of gallerists and collectors Ann and Jürgen Wilde with the Bavarian State Painting Collections as a foundation. This modernist-focused collection joined alongside archives of artists Karl Blossfeldt and Albert Renger-Patzsch, creating a comprehensive ensemble of approximately 10,000 works that allows visitors to experience artistic photography of the highest international quality.
The exhibition's structure highlights the complementary strengths of both collections. The Ann and Jürgen Wilde Foundation presents New Objectivity photography, while the Collection of Photography and Time-based Media showcases the conceptual documentary photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher and their students. These comparable concepts serve as focal points for each section and open the exhibition with their parallel approaches to photographic art.
Thematic sections explore various photographic concepts including detail work, landscape and vast expanses, fragments and space, body and identity, as well as street photography and society. The exhibition also addresses pictorial concepts that deal with invisible or difficult-to-grasp life experiences, creating surprising dialogical encounters that span different eras and demonstrate photography's profound influence on visual perception and contemporary discourse.
The exhibition features an impressive roster of artists including Ilit Azoulay, John Baldessari, Lewis Baltz, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Laurenz Berges, Aenne Biermann, Viktoria Binschtok, Karl Blossfeldt, Joachim Brohm, Thomas Demand, Ludwig Dressler, Juan Pablo Echeverri, Alfred Ehrhardt, Arno Fischer, Lee Friedlander, Katharina Gaenssler, Jochen Gerz, Ralph Gibson, Claus Goedicke, Jan Groover, Andreas Gursky, Florence Henri, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Astrid Jahnsen, Sven Johne, Birgit Jürgenssen, Wolf Kahlen, Jens Klein, Germaine Krull, Marie Jo Lafontaine, Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Duane Michals, Tracey Moffatt, Christopher Muller, Mame-Diarra Niang, Simone Nieweg, Nicholas Nixon, Gabriele & Helmut Nothhelfer, Walter Pfeiffer, Adrian Piper, Barbara Probst, Walid Raad, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Marcia Resnick, Werner Rohde, Ed Ruscha, Thomas Ruff, August Sander, Michael Schmidt, Eva-Maria Schön, Friedrich Seidenstücker, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Stephen Shore, Beat Streuli, Thomas Struth, Vibeke Tandberg, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Wolfgang Tillmans, Lidwien van de Ven, Jeff Wall, Weegee, Gillian Wearing, and Petra Wunderlich.
The exhibition is curated by Simone Förster, Chief Curator of the Ann and Jürgen Wilde Foundation, and Franziska Kunze, Chief Curator of Photography and Time-based Media. "On View: Encounters with Photography" will run until October 12, 2025, at the Pinakothek der Moderne, located at Barer Str. 40, 80333 Munich, Germany.
