Oh We’ll Miss Those Blue Riders

After the amazingly successful Kandinsky exhibit, the coolest museum in Munich (the Lenbach Haus) is closing for two years for renovation. The Italian Villa in Maxvorstadt will go through a $56 million renovation to update basic infrastructure of the building. The building was created in 1891, but was built up based upon multiple acquisitions of surrounding buildings. Then it suffered extensive damage during WWII, and in the end is ill equipped to support the dramatic increases in attendance. Although the museum was made for a capacity of 30-40,000 visitors per year, during peak times (like this past year with the Kandinsky exhibit) the museum can see more than 400,000 visitors per year. Although the Lenbach Haus will close, the Kuntsbau will remain open, which is an additional exhibit space at the entry of the Konigsplatz U-bahn. The current exhibit profiles Dan Flavin, an American artist focused on the use of neon lighting as art.