Chiyu Uemae, "Untiled" (Detail), 1959, © the artist, photo: Johannes Haslinger

Pinakothek der Moderne | Sammlung Moderne Kunst (Modern Art Collection)

Gutai. Collection + Goetz

June 14 – September 8, 2024

Since 2019, in the context of the Sammlung+ format, the Sammlung Moderne Kunst has presented artistic discoveries, new acquisitions and thematic foci in the Pinakothek der Moderne in collaboration with partners and foundations. This has led to the emergence of new perspectives on the collections, new insights into research work and the establishment of new dialogues. It is in this framework that a selection of paintings by the Japanese artist group Gutai from the Sammlung Goetz will be presented in room 23, within a series of rooms focusing on near-contemporaneous regional and German abstraction phenomena under the title Walk the Line. Founded in 1954 by the abstract painter Jiro Yoshihara, Gutai was one of the 20th century’s most innovative artistic movements, which combined action, abstraction and materiality.

With Kumiko Imanaka, Takesada Matsutani, Shuij Mukai, Minoru Onoda, Chiyu Uemae and Toshio Yoshida.

Pinakothek der Moderne | Room 23

Daily 10 am – 6 pm
Thursday 10 am – 8 pm
Monday closed

Barer Str. 40
80333 München

to the website

'Gutai' can be translated as 'concrete, tangible, material.' In their works, the group’s members explored the changeability and volatility of soil, mud, water, wind, fire, smoke and sunlight. The proximity to nature was already evident in July 1955, in the group’s first presentation, which took place outdoors. The most important point of reference, however, remained the artists’ engagement with painting. That same year, the first issue of the magazine Gutai appeared, and it continued to be published regularly until 1965. It reported on the works and activities of the group members; its content also demonstrated the great interest Gutai artists had in a dialog with Western abstraction movements. The first three issues included summaries in English, which brought the group to the attention of artists such as Jackson Pollock and Allan Kaprow as well as to critics such as Michel Tapié. This was followed by a series of international exhibitions that also made Gutai renowned in the Western world.

Curated by Verena Hein in collaboration with Karsten Löckemann and Pietro Tondello.

Sammlung Online

© Chiyu Uemae, photo: Johannes Haslinger

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Cyrill Lachauer. The Sunset Route

June 20 – September 27, 2026 | Kunstpalais Erlangen

feat. Mike Brodie, Mouse Green, Rhyw, Mia Justice Smith, Moritz Stumm

In the exhibition The Sunset Route, on view at the Kunstpalais Erlangen and created in collaboration with the Sammlung Goetz, Cyrill Lachauer presents works from 2020 to 2025, a period during which he traveled on freight trains through the USA, Mexico, and Bosnia. In the spirit of poetic ethnography, he created photographs and films that are now being shown together for the first time. They all explore questions of freedom, self-determination, and resistance, as well as colonization, exclusion, and exploitation.

Laurie Simmons. Dollhouse Photographs

June 25 – August 30, 2026 | Deutsches Theatermuseum

The American artist Laurie Simmons is known for her photographs featuring tiny dolls representing stereotypical female roles in domestic interiors. Her series In and Around the House (1978/79) is exemplary for this set-up photography. The series is the centerpiece of the exhibition, with 56 black-and-white images showing a doll occupied with the mundane chores of a housewife in the cozy environment of a dollhouse. The exhibition “Laurie Simmons: Dollhouse Photographs”, a collaboration of Sammlung Goetz, Deutsches Theatermuseum and FILMFEST MÜNCHEN, presents a selection of works by Simmons that cast a critical gaze at gender stereotypes in the American middle class.

Sterling Ruby

July 16 – October 24, 2026 | Sammlung Goetz /Schaufenster

Los Angeles-based American artist Sterling Ruby is known for his cross-genre work, which ranges from ceramics and bronzes, collages and textiles, to enormous, spray-painted paintings. In his works, Ruby weaves together a variety of different autobiographical, art-historical, and sociological sources. Through deconstruction and reconstruction, he probes the idea of a non-hierarchical and borderless universe. The exhibition at the Sammlung Goetz /Schaufenster provides insight into his multi-layered artistic practice.

Jeff Wall

November 17, 2026 – February 20, 2027 | Sammlung Goetz /Schaufenster

Canadian artist Jeff Wall is one of the most influential photographers of our time. In his elaborately staged pictorial compositions, he combines the narrative of cinema with painting. Wall became known for his large-format lightbox images, which are formally more reminiscent of the world of advertising than that of fine art. With this technique, he revolutionized the medium of photography, elevating it to the height of painting and sculpture. The exhibition at the Sammlung Goetz /Schaufenster presents a selection of his iconic lightbox images from the 1990s.