2026: Top Special Art Exhibitions at Kulturforum in Berlin

Top art exhibitions in Kulturforum Berlin in 2026 include Brancusi sculptures in the Neue Nationalgalerie, amazing portraits in the Gemäldegalerie, and Kupferstichkabinett drawings.

The special Kulturforum art exhibitions in Berlin in 2026 are interesting but are unlikely to overshadow the magnificent permanent collections of this cultural powerhouse. The Gemäldegalerie, one of the world’s top collections of old master paintings, will have a major “Portraits” exhibition towards the end of the year. In the Neue Nationalgalerie, a special Brancusi exhibition will complement the ongoing displays of art from the second half of the 20th century and 100 Gerhard Richter works. The Graphics Collection (Kupferstichkabinett) will have special exhibitions in 2026 of drawings from Christoph Müller’s travels, views of Istanbul, and Flemish masterworks by Rubens, Jordaens, and Van Dyck. Time-slot reservation tickets are often not required, while the Kulturforum Day Pass is great value.

Top Temporary Art Exhibitions in Berlin Kulturforum Museums and Galleries in 2026

The venues usually used by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB) for temporary exhibitions in the Kulturforum are:

• Gemäldegalerie — a special exhibition space in the center of the museum, so admission tickets include general admission to the Paintings Gallery too.
• Exhibition Spaces in the Kulturforum — smaller exhibition rooms in the main building, often used by the Kupferstichkabinett and Art Library. Separate exhibition-specific tickets.
• Neue Nationalgalerie — temporary exhibitions are inside the Mies van der Rohe-designed New National Gallery. Larger special exhibitions are in the glass hall on the ground floor and often require separate time-slot reservations.

The Kulturforum combination ticket (day pass) and the Berlin Museum Pass (three days) usually cover temporary exhibitions at all venues here.

Portraits! Exhibition in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie in 2026

How do we see ourselves – and how did people in different historical periods want to be seen? To answer these questions, the Gemäldegalerie brings together 80 portraits spanning five centuries in the special exhibition Portraits! Surprising Encounters from Botticelli to Lempicka.

Around 80 paintings illustrate a wide variety of portraiture’s diverse aspects, ranging from glorious portraits of rulers to intimate scenes of friendship and proud self-proclamations. The four main themes are:

• Portrait Types North and South of the Alps
• Self-Representation of the Elite
• Family, Friendship, and Intimacy
• Portraits of Art Collectors and Artists

The exhibition will include masterworks by artists such as Petrus Christus, Mino da Fiesole, Botticelli, Giorgione, Dürer, Cranach the Elder, Holbein the Younger, Tizian, Sofonisba Anguissola, Rembrandt, Zurbarán, Anna Dorothea Therbusch, and Tamara de Lempicka. Many show talent (and self-awareness!) that modern selfies and influencers can only dream of.

Special Exhibitions by the Kupferstichkabinett (Graphics Collection) in Berlin in 2026

The Kupferstichkabinett (Graphics Collection) in Berlin is one of the world’s greatest collections of drawings, graphics, and art on paper. The Kupferstichkabinett collections are usually displayed in special exhibition rooms in Kulturforum, near the Gemäldegalerie ticket desk.

Bosporus Beats. Views of Istanbul from 1500 to 1800

This special exhibition focuses on the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul (Constantinople) and its inhabitants. At the heart of the exhibition are drawings by the German-French architect Antoine Ignace Melling (1763–1831), who lived and worked in the metropolis on the Bosporus.

Works by world-famous artists such as Pollaiuolo, Dürer, Coecke van Aelst, Rembrandt, Liotard, and Chodowiecki testify to the great interest in Ottoman and Turkish culture throughout the centuries. (Even amongst artists who had never actually visited the “exotic east”.

Rubens, Jordaens, van Dyck. Flemish Master Drawings

This special exhibition includes around 100 drawings by Flemish Baroque masters, including Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, and Antony van Dyck. While much of Europe was engaged in religious and political wars in the period 1580 to 1660, Antwerp grew to one of the continent’s most important commercial ports and a giant in art production.

Brancusi Sculptures Exhibition in the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin in 2026

In mid-2026, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin and the Centre Pompidou in Paris present 150 works by the French sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957). It will be the comprehensive exhibition of Brancusi in Germany in over 50 years.

After a traditional academic training, Constantin Brancusi found his own artistic voice in Paris from 1907 onward. By reducing forms to their purest essence, he became one of the great pioneers of sculptural abstraction in the early 20th century. His work invites visitors to slow down and engage with subtle variations of form, material, and surface, repeatedly returning to a small number of central motifs.

Brancusi did not see sculpture as an isolated object. He carefully considered how light, movement, pedestals, photography, and even film shape the way his works are perceived, transforming the act of viewing into a complete spatial experience. This approach makes the exhibition especially immersive, revealing how radical his thinking was for its time.

Alongside iconic works such as The Kiss, Bird in Space, Sleeping Muse, and Endless Column, the exhibition includes a partial reconstruction of Brancusi’s legendary studio. Shown outside Paris for the first time since it was gifted to the French state in 1957, the studio offers rare insight into how the artist lived, worked, and arranged his sculptures.

More on the Berlin State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin):

Timeslot reservations are sensible (and sometimes needed in busy periods) for the Alte Nationalgalerie, Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum, and Pergamon – Das Panorama. (The Pergamon Museum itself is closed until 2027!). Timeslots are released only a few weeks in advance. Online tickets are available from GetYourGuide, Tiqets, or SMB.

Many passes and multi-museum tickets offer savings (Kulturforum / Museums Island). Individual museum ticket prices range from €8 to €14 (€20 for special exhibitions). Online tickets are skip-the-line — go directly to the gallery entrance to scan the code.

For more general information on the Berlin State Museums:

• Top National Museums and Galleries in Berlin (brief overview)
• Berlin State Museums: What Is Seen Where? (a short description of the collections in the different museums)
• Opening Hours of Berlin State Museums (2026) — most are again open on Tuesdays too.
• Ticket Prices for Berlin State Museums (prices for museums, temporary exhibitions, combination tickets, online time-slot reservations). Buying online from GetYourGuide is easy. Scan tickets with a QR or bar code directly at the entrance — no need to pass by the ticket desk (but pick up the free audio guide before entering).
• Save with the Berlin Museum Pass – 30 museums (including all the SMB museums) in three days for €32 – a fantastic savings deal.
• Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (official website in German & English).

News & Temporary Exhibitions in Berlin in 2026:

• 2026: Top Special Art Exhibitions at Kulturforum and Special Museumsinsel Exhibitions (Alte Nationalgalerie).
• Museums closed in 2026: The Pergamon Museum is closed until 2027 (some sculptures are on display in Das Panorama), the Museum Berggruen is closed (much of its collection is traveling the world), the permanent collection of the German History Museum (Zeughaus) is closed but temporary exhibitions continue in the Pei Building.
• 2030s: Berlin Modern to share the Museum of 20th-Century Art with the Neue Nationalgalerie on Kulturforum.

More Museum Reviews and Museum-Specific Information:

• Alte Nationalgalerie — 19th-century art.
• Altes Museum — Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art.
• Bode Museum — sculptures from the Middle Ages, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods, Byzantine Art, and coins.
• Ethnological and Asian Art Museums in the Humboldtforum.
• Friedrichswerdersche Kirche (free admission) with a collection of 19th-century German sculptures.
• Gemäldegalerie — German and Dutch Old Masters and Italian paintings.
• Kunstgewerbemuseum (Decorative Arts).
• Musical Instruments Museum near the Berliner Philharmonie.
• Neue Nationalgalerie — 20th-century art.
• Neues Museum — Pre and Early History, Egyptian Collection with bust of Nefertiti.
• Pergamon Museum with Ishtar Gate — the whole Pergamonmuseum is closed from 2023 until 2027. Some Greek sculptures are shown in the
• Pergamon Museum Panorama Exhibition with Asisi panoramic painting and Greek statues.
• Photography — Helmut Newton collection and historic photos.

Previous Temporary Exhibitions in Berlin Museums:

• 2025: Top Special Art Exhibitions in Berlin in 2025 & Top Contemporary Art Exhibitions in the Hamburg Bahnhof.
• 2024: Overview of Top Berlin Exhibitions in 2024, Caspar David Friedrich in the Alte Nationalgalerie, Frans Hals in the Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie (20th-century art), Hamburger Bahnhof Contemporary Art, Kupferstichkabinett (Prints and Drawings), and Photography Museum.
• 2023: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2023 — overview, in the Kulturforum, in the Neue Nationalgalerie, on Museum Island, and the Museum of Photography.
• 2022: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2022 — overview, in the Kulturforum (David Hockney), in the Neue Nationalgalerie, on Museumsinsel, Hamburger Bahnhof contemporary art, and the Museum of Photography.
• 2021: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2021 — including the reopening of the Neue Nationalgalerie, as well as the Ethnological and Asian Art Museums in the Humboldt Forum.
• 2020: Highlights, in Kulturforum, on Museum Island, in the Hamburger Bahnhof, smaller museums, and the opening of the Humboldt Forum.