In 2025, see modern art exhibitions in Berlin by Ayoung Kim, Klára Hosnedlová, Delcy Morelos, Petrit Halilaj, Annika Kahrs, and Saadane Afif in the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart (National Gallery of Contemporary Art).
The Hamburger Bahnhof National Galerie der Gegenwart — the premier contemporary art museum in Berlin — will present at least seven solo exhibitions featuring a wide range of international artists and media. In addition, the three more permanent collections opened in 2024 in the Rieckhallen and the Kleihueshalle will continue with a strong emphasis on Joseph Buys. The museum also has a busy cultural program of performances and events.
→ See also 2025: Best Special Art Exhibitions in Berlin State Museums for other temporary exhibitions (mostly 20th-century art on display in 2025).
Top Contemporary Art Exhibitions in Berlin in 2025
The Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart (National Gallery of Contemporary Art) is home to the Berlin State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / SMB) collection of contemporary and modern art (late 20th century, and 21st century art).
In 2025, several artists are invited for solo exhibitions to enhance the semi-permanent main exhibition in this vast exhibition space not far from Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof. Ticket prices depend on the temporary exhibitions running during visits and several free options are also available at select times. The Berlin Museum Pass is accepted.
Solo Contemporary Artists Art Exhibitions in Berlin 2025
Many of the artists invited to exhibit at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin 2025 are young with the museum hosting their first solo exhibitions in Germany.
The following exhibitions have already been announced for Berlin in 2025:
Ayoung Kim
28 February – 20 July 2025
The first solo exhibition in a German museum by Ayoung Kim (born 1979) spans the past five years of her artistic practice. Using AI, VR, video, game simulations, and sonic fiction, she explores themes like migration, xenophobia, queerness, and geopolitics. Her exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof focuses on the symbiosis between data, humans, and the planet.
Klára Hosnedlová
25 April – 26 October 2025
Klára Hosnedlová (b. 1990) presents a monumental exhibition in Hamburger Bahnhof’s historic hall that revolves around themes of home, utopia, and everyday life under various political systems. Impressions of post-communist architecture, films, and novels and the post-futuristic images of her performative interventions at multiple locations in East and West Berlin form its point of departure.
The expansive, sculptural scenery is made from materials such as flax fibres, embroidery, cast glass, sandstone, iron, and concrete slabs. With Hosnedlová, Hamburger Bahnhof is once again presenting a young artist who pushes the boundaries of sculpture – showcased in the main hall as part of Gallery Weekend.
Delcy Morelos
13 June 2025 – 11 January 2026
Delcy Morelos (b. 1967) will present her first solo exhibition in Germany at Hamburger Bahnhof. It features a new, large-scale installation exploring themes to do with the earth, indigenous knowledge, regeneration and the interconnectedness of nature and humanity. In this work, Morelos explores the actions, sculptures, and environments of Joseph Beuys that are on display in the permanent exhibition.
Following Naama Tsabar (12 April – 22 September 2024) and Andrea Pichl (8 November 2024 – 4 May 2025), this is the third contemporary art installation by a woman artist to be shown in parallel with the Beuys presentation in the Kleihueshalle at Hamburger Bahnhof.
The exhibition opens with the third installment of the admission-free Open House weekend (13–15 May 2025), which also marks the start of this year’s open-air DJ series, Berlin Beats.
Toyin Ojih Odutola
4 July 2025 – 25 January 2026
Toyin Ojih Odutola’s (born 1985) first solo exhibition in Germany features her detailed drawings, known for exploring identity and personal narratives. Through her intricate depictions of figures, she delves into themes of self-representation and the journey of the individual. The show at Hamburger Bahnhof is a reflection on identity and personal histories.
Petrit Halilaj
5 September 2025 – 31 May 2026
Petrit Halilaj (b. 1986) will present at Hamburger Bahnhof his first major institutional solo exhibition in Berlin. New, site-specific works will be shown alongside drawings, sculptures, and installations. At the center of the exhibition is a new, expansive, participatory installation that explores the potential of collective dreaming to tap into open, emancipatory worlds.
This is the second solo exhibition in the Rieckhallen, which reopened in 2024 and takes place as part of Berlin Art Week.
Annika Kahrs
14 November 2025 – 3 May 2026
Berlin-based artist Annika Kahrs (born 1984) will open at Hamburger Bahnhof the most comprehensive survey of her practices yet. She explores the social and cultural roles of music.
Through video, sound installations, and live performances, she challenges the boundaries of sound, focusing on its communicative and structural dimensions.
Saâdane Afif
12 December 2025 – 16 August 2026
Centre of the exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof by artist Saâdane Afif (born 1970) is his multi-part archival project “The Fountain Archives” revisiting the legacy of Marcel Duchamp’s iconic “Fountain”.
This complex artwork, gifted to the Nationalgalerie collection in 2023, is now presented to the public for the first time alongside other works that critically and humorously question the role of the art museum.
Transportation to the Hamburger Bahnhof National Gallery of Contemporary Art in Berlin
Although the last train already left the Hamburger Bahnhof in 1884, the former station building that now houses the National Gallery of Contemporary Art is still very close to the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof. The museum is at Invalidenstraße 50-51, 10557 Berlin, with the closest public transportation stops at Berlin Hauptbahnhof with a huge selection of trains, S-Bahn, U-Bahn, tram, and bus lines.
→ See also 2025: Best Special Art Exhibitions in Berlin State Museums for other temporary exhibitions (mostly 20th-century art on display in 2025).
More on the Berlin State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin):
Note new opening times for many Berlin museums in 2025 — several are now closed on both Monday and Tuesday.
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 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 (2025) — major changes since mid-April 2024!
- Ticket Prices for Berlin State Museums (prices for museums, temporary exhibitions, combination tickets, online time-slot reservations). Buying online from GetYourGuide is easy. A ticket with a QR or bar code is scanned 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 2025:
- 2025: Top Special Art Exhibitions in Berlin in 2025 & Top Contemporary Art Exhibitions in the Hamburg Bahnhof.
- Museums closed in 2025: The Pergamon Museum is closed until 2027 (some sculptures are on display in Das Panorama), the Museum Berggruen is closed until 2026 (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.
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:
- 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.