Pinakothek der Moderne - Part 1

The Pinakothek der Moderne is one of the world's largest museums for modern and contemporary art, and situated in central Munich's Kunstareal.


https://i.postimg.cc/90qCNXZg/1a-Pin...er-Moderne.jpg


My wife and I have been fortunate to have spent the last 3+ weeks touring around Vienna, Munich, Berlin and Prague. We are back in Munich, and a few days ago visited the Pinakothek der Moderne. This is definitely one of my favourite places, and I'd like to share with you, over a few separate episodes, some of the highlights.


One of the factors that draws me so to woodwork is that it is living art .. art that is used, whether as furniture, tools or simply as something to display and admire. But it is not just wood that I attracts me so, but all things of design ... cars, glassware, paintings, pens, watches, jewellery, architecture, bottles ...... If I had another life it may have been spent in industrial design .. but if that had happened, perhaps I would have dreamed of being a psychologist .. :)


From the entrance ...


https://i.postimg.cc/Jh174LCt/1-Wall-at-entrance.jpg


Entering the main exhibition hall one is presented with a wall of iconic furniture, electrical appliances and other landmark items. I shall come back to some of these in due course, but the one that grabbed my attention was the Porsche 356 ...


https://i.postimg.cc/SKDSnvmd/2-Porsche-356.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/C12wNnBf/2a-Porsche-356.jpg


I know a fair amount about this car, having restored one (a 1957 356A) many years ago. They were hand made, the first in 1949. This one looks to be a pre-A, which would have been built in 1950. The woodworker in me jumps out and looks at the framework here . I am not sure whether this was actually used to form the steel skins (before they were formed by stamping), or whether it was a form for visualising the first designs for production. I suspect the latter.


We move into the first room and I see this Tatra. I have read about them but never seen one in the flesh.


https://i.postimg.cc/dDPwMM9s/3-Tatra-1.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/FRz93VR4/4-Tatra-2.jpg


This looks like a 1950 model. These were V-8 rear-engined cars designed and built in Czechoslovakia. In the flesh it is amazing.


Beyond this is a Porsche 911 (mid-70s?) ..


https://i.postimg.cc/KvBg1xw5/7-Porsche-911.jpg


... and one of the most under-rated, and beautiful car I can recall, a NSU Wankel (1979?) ...


https://i.postimg.cc/GmRTY61n/8-NSU-wankel.jpg


The NSU was so far ahead of its time - Wankle engine ... which was likely their undoing.


BMW motorbikes ...


https://i.postimg.cc/mZc9GQSJ/5-Bikes-1.jpg


... made of clay. Yes, these were the models for the prototypes ...


https://i.postimg.cc/pVgFVpGT/6-Bikes-2.jpg


Lastly, look up at the model on the wall (anyone recognise the car?) ...


https://i.postimg.cc/kgy6ywn6/9-Wall-1.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/9fF4gTMx/10-Wall-2.jpg


Get closer to the wall, and it is made up of miniature cars ...


https://i.postimg.cc/KYq16z3m/11-Wall-3.jpg


More next time.


Regards from Munich


Derek

What a fantastic place, thanks for the tour. ��

That looks like a buck for the bodybuilders for the 356, I made similar at Leyland for the P76 when we hand made the prototypes.
The fancy car sales place under the bridge has an similar Aston Martin buck in the showroom.
We also had clays of the cars under development in styling.
I think the Chavant clay went to one of the Sydney TAFEs when styling shut down.
Nice to see stuff like this on display, people nowadays have no idea how stuff is made they think it just falls out the bum of a computer.
That Tatra V8 was air cooled there’s pics of a stripped down one in the metal forum from memory.
Porsche was involved in a law suit over his VW shape with Ledwinka but that was solved in 1938.
H.

https://i.postimg.cc/C12wNnBf/2a-Porsche-356.jpg

This buck for a replica Spyder is at Brian Tanti workshop in Sydney.
Brian retored Lindsay Fox’s Spyder now he’s making one from scratch.
H.

Thanks for that Derek, looking forward to more. Good design is good design and is timeless.

If you have the opportunity at some time, you should visit the Toyoda museum in Nagoya, Japan, and nearby, the Noritake factory.

Derek

Thanks for those pix.

The Tatra was the up market model. Not everybody in Czechoslovakia (now Czechia and Slovakia) had one of those and I think that is a very early model as you say. The NSU car you show is the NSU RO80. It was advanced for it's time and had amazing stability in a straight line primarily thanks to it's shape. Unfortunately, it suffered from poor rotor tip seals in the Wankel motor. Only Mazda seem to have coped with that issue and they were unable to make them fuel efficient.

Is the car on the wall an Audi?

Regards
Paul

Thank you Derek

An thanks for adding to my buck list,

Cheers Matt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Derek

Thanks for those pix.

The Tatra was the up market model. Not everybody in Czechoslovakia (now Czechia and Slovakia) had one of those and I think that is a very early model as you say. The NSU car you show is the NSU RO80. It was advanced for it's time and had amazing stability in a straight line primarily thanks to it's shape. Unfortunately, it suffered from poor rotor tip seals in the Wankel motor. Only Mazda seem to have coped with that issue and they were unable to make them fuel efficient.

Is the car on the wall an Audi?

Regards
Paul

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Paul, yes to the RO80. That rings a bell. I did a Search on them. It was Car of the Year in 1968. It was an amazing shape for a production saloon at that time. I was too young to consider buying one, but loved it even then. Here is a link to Wikipaedia: NSU Ro 80 - Wikipedia

The car on the wall? I though it was an Audi as well.

Regards from Munich

Derek

The Suzuki RE5 motor cycle also used a Wankel rotary engine 1974-76

Quote:

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Originally Posted by derekcohen

look up at the model on the wall (anyone recognise the car?) ...

https://i.postimg.cc/kgy6ywn6/9-Wall-1.jpg

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Hi Derek
The car on the wall looks a bit like an earlier Audi A3 coupe

That would be my guess as well, Ian.

Regards from Singapore ... flying home very soon.

Derek