A museum that invites you to dream
Sammlung Schack: information on the history of the collection, exhibitions and the art education program
The Sammlung Schack (Schack Collection) is one of the most important museums devoted to German painting of the 19th century.
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In cooperation with the cultural department and the museums
This article about Munich's museums is sponsored by the Cultural Department of the City of Munich and was conceived in cooperation with the State Agency for Non-State Museums in Bavaria. The content has been coordinated between the participating museums and muenchen.de, the official city portal.
Why the Schack Collection is worth a visit:
The Collection of paintings was established through the efforts of the poet and literary historian Count Adolf Friedrich von Schack (1815-1894). Twenty atmospherically designed rooms invite the visitors to immerse themselves in the visual worlds and sensations of Romanticism.
What does the museum offer?
- An extraordinary collection: Fairy tales, myths, places of longing - the paintings of the Schack Collection show faraway spaces and times, they tell stories of love and death. Many of the idealistic artworks deliberately preclude all forms of Realism. Paintings such as Böcklin's "Villa am Meer" (Villa by the Sea) or Schwind's "Morgenstunde" (Morning Hour), will cary you into the world of longings and dreams of this era.
- A special opportunity: Temporarily, you can also see some masterpieces from the Neue Pinakothek, which is currently closed for renovation. This is a unique opportunity to experience famous paintings from the Neue Pinakothek in inspiring new contexts. The selection ranges from Classicism and Romanticism to the beginning of Modernism.
- An exciting programme for children: Since 2015, the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (Bavarian State Painting Collections) has been working with daycare centres to develop an early education art program. In addition, the Schack Collection offers regular family tours and children's workshops.
What's special? The former private collection of the collector and art patron Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack consists of 267 pieces and has remained unchanged in its formation since his death. Schack’s chief aim as an art collector was to promote the work of underrated and young, unknown artists with purchases and commissions.
Sammlung Schack at a glance
- Location: In Prinzregentenstrasse near the Haus der Kunst and the Bavarian National Museum
- Museum category: Art
- Recommended duration of stay: 1-2 hours
- Directions: City bus 100 to "Reitmorstraße/Sammlung Schack", streetcar 18 to "Nationalmuseum/Haus der Kunst", streetcar 6 to "Friedensengel/Villa Stuck" or U4/U5 to "Lehel
- Website: https://www.pinakothek.de/en/visit/sammlung-schack
Schack's Collection: originals and copies
The collection mainly consists of landscape and history paintings. For example, it depicts motifs from the sagas and legends of medieval Germany.
Classical antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance - Greece, Italy and the Spain of Romantic imagination were places of longing for the art collector in the 19th century. Count Schack knew those places intimately.
In addition to original works by German artists of his time, Schack also collected copies of 16th and 17th century masterpieces, most notably by Venetian artists, ranging from Giorgione and Titian to Tintoretto and Veronese. They are presented in the Copy Room on the first floor of the museum.
About the collector: Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack
Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack (1815 - 1894) was a poet, literary historian, art collector and patron of young artists such as Arnold Böcklin, Anselm Feuerbach and Franz Lenbach.
Schack initially worked as a lawyer and diplomat in the Mecklenburg and Prussian civil service. In order to exclusively devote himself to his literary interests, he gave up this position in 1851. In 1856 Maximilian II of Bavaria invited him to Munich, where he joined the circle of scientists, scholars and writers the king had gathered there to make the city a centre of German intellectual life comparable to eighteenth-century Weimar.
Schack began to focus on contemporary art and mainly collected paintings by young German artists.
In the last thirty years of his life, he travelled a lot, visiting Italy, Spain, Greece and the Middle East. He died in Rome in 1894 and bequeathed his collection of paintings to the German emperor. Wilhelm II did not bring the unique collection to Berlin or Weimar as expected, but left it in Munich. In 1909 the gallery in Prinzregentenstrasse was erected, the collection is being displayed here until today.
Although Schack's own literary works are forgotten, his name is still present today thanks to the paintings he collected in the 1860s and 1870s.
Masterpieces from the Schack Collection include:
- Arnold Böcklin: Villa am Meer II, 1865 (Villa by the Sea II)
- Anselm Feuerbach: Paolo und Francesca, 1864
- Franz von Lenbach: Hirtenknabe, 1860, (Shepherd boy)
- Moritz von Schwind: Des Knaben Wunderhorn, around 1848, (The Boy's Magic Horn)
- Moritz von Schwind: Die Morgenstunde, around 1860, (The morning hour)
Opening hours
- Open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10 am - 6 pm
- Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
- Every first and third Wednesday of the month: 10 am - 8 pm
Admission prices
- Regular: 4,- Euro
- Reduced: 3,- Euro
- On Sundays: 1,- Euro
- Admission is free for children and young people under the age of 18.
Barrier-free access
Please note, that Sammlung Schack unfortunately is not accessible to people with disabilities.
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At a glance
Schack Collection Munich
Prinzregentenstr. 9
80538
München
Tel:
+49 (0)89 23805-224
