Die Neue Sammlung

Over 100 Years of Design
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The type case is the first thing you see before you reach the stairs to the Design Museum.
Photo: Die Neue Sammlung

Die Neue Sammlung is the Design Museum located in the Pinakothek der Moderne and is one of the world’s leading museums of 20th and 21st century applied art and design.

The museum came into existence thanks to the “Münchner Vereinigung für angewandte Kunst” which was founded in 1903 and later renamed the “Münchner Bund”. Later, in May 1925, a “Special Department” for the applied arts was set up at the Bavarian National Museum. In March 1926 Die Neue Sammlung, which means “The New Collection”, was presented to the public for the first time.

The poster reads Die Neue Sammlung in black letters. Below it is an orange sun. In the rays is written ceramics, metals, posters, books, fabrics and glass. Below it says the first exhibition of the Bavarian National Museum. the Department of Trade: Art in the Study Building at Prinzregentenstraße 3.
Poster for the first exhibition of Die Neue Sammlung in the Bavarian National Museum, Department of Applied Arts, 1926.
Photo: Archive Die Neue Sammlung

From the very beginning, Die Neue Sammlung stood out from other contemporary museums of applied arts and of arts and crafts. It consciously committed to the modernism of the time, which included contemporary design. Die Neue Sammlung follows the same claim and objectives as its founding members right up unto this day.

The international collection focusses on industrial and graphic design, as well as on arts and crafts and jewellery. It is divided into more than twenty individual areas such as furniture and lighting, radio and television sets, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and glass, but themes such as mobility and IT design are also included. In fact, Die Neue Sammlung is considered a leader in the field of industrial design. 
The short film provides an overview of our collection.
Video: Die Neue Sammlung

Previously housed in the west wing of the Bavarian National Museum on Prinzregentenstrasse, Die Neue Sammlung moved to the Pinakothek der Moderne in 2002. Together with the Bavarian State Painting Collections, the State Collection of Prints and Drawings Munich, and the Technical University’s Architecture Museum it now belongs to a new set of museums – which in itself poses new challenges and opportunities.

With the presentation of its comprehensive collection, its exhibitions and its various forms of educational work, Die Neue Sammlung reflects current discourse on the content and format of design museums, on how design content is received and on the general significance of design today.

The picture shows the mobile home Futuro, which resembles a UFO. It stands on a meadow in front of the Pinakothek der Poderne. In the background you can see the square, colorful building of the Museum Brandhorst.
Matti Suuronen, FUTURO, 1965-67: The mobile house in front of the Pinakothek der Moderne is part of Die Neue Sammlung.
© München Tourismus Photo: Peter Neusser
Room view of the permanent exhibition. You can see an industrial cellar room with a long corridor in the middle. To the left and right, individual exhibits from the museum's collection are stored on ceiling-high shelves and in glass cabinets. These include chairs in various colors and shapes, a red helicopter hanging from the ceiling and various designer lamps.
The X-D-E-P-O-T was opened in 2021.
Photo: Gerhardt Kellermann