City of Art & Culture

Munich Pop History Day 6: The arts have always been an important part of Munich’s history, as this example of the ceiling of Nymphenburg palace illustrates (thank you guest photographer). Based upon a groundswell of artist colonies throughout Munich, Maximillian I of Bavaria founded the Munich Academy of Fine Arts in 1808, one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. The academy played a significant role in the Jugendstil (youth movement), the basis of the Art Nouveau movement in Munich. Most people don’t know Munich as a base for Art Nouveau, but it was one of the cities linked with Paris, Brussels, and others that led the movement. Influential artists, like Otto Eckmann, Richard Riemerschmid, and Hermann Obrist led this movement from Munich. Much of this momentum continued until the exile of much of Munich’s artistic community by the Nazis during WWII.