Thank you, Axel, for this interesting question...
which takes us right to the heart of the museum that I'm standing in now.
The so-called Neue Pinakothek in Munich.
My name is Nadine Engel...
and I'm a Research Associate here at the Bavarian State Paintings Collections.
We're taking care of eighteen different museums and galleries...
all over the Federal State of Bavaria.
The Neue Pinakothek...
was the second museum built here in the centre of Munich.
And its founding idea was revolutionary.
It was one of the earliest museums to be exclusively dedicated...
to contemporary art. Not only in Europe, but all over the world.
What once was modern, is now classic.
And so today, while there is the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art...
right across the street, the Pinakothek der Moderne...
Neue Pinakothek still holds a special place within our cultural landscape...
with its extraordinary collection of 19th century art.
The 'Sunflowers' by Vincent van Gogh...
are one of our great and beloved masterpieces.
They are presented in room 21, where we are standing now...
together with paintings by Paul Gauguin.
So the friendship between the two artists that you've already heard about...
comes to life on the walls surrounding our visitors.
You have already had the opportunity to discover two 'Sunflowers' paintings so far.
One in the National Gallery in London and one in Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum.
The painting you see on my left...
is actually the oldest Van Gogh painted in the summer of 1888, that you see today.
He did it to adorn his yellow house in Arles.
To give you an impression of how Van Gogh experienced the city...
and its surroundings at his time, here is his View of Arles from our gallery.
Blossoming trees and bushes and the bright colours of Southern France...
a peasant working on the fields, the silhouette of historic buildings...
almost disappearing in the background of natural beauty.
While the two first paintings of sunflowers had been rather small...
for this third version, now here in Munich, Van Gogh chose a larger format.
In comparison to the paintings in London and Amsterdam...
I'm sure you've already noticed.
He set his yellow vase against a bright turquoise background.
As to your question, Axel, it all started with one man's courage...
and his fight for modern art that the painting came to Munich.
This man was Hugo von Tschudi
and he was one of the most progressive museum directors in Germany...
of the 1900s.
Tschudi was fascinated by the new and colourful way...
contemporary artists in France...
such as the Impressionists and their succeeding generation were painting.
He travelled regularly to Germany's neighbouring country...
and followed the developments in France closely.
Fifteen years after Van Gogh's death, in 1905...
he came across the sunflower painting next to me...
at the shop of a German arts dealer...
when he was still overseeing the National Gallery in Berlin.
In general, the Kaiser, who granted acquisitions...
was not amused about Tschudi's taste for the new French painting
because it differed completely...
from the way German artists were working at that time.
It is said that the Kaiser once even asked Tschudi...
to acquire anything else but 'purple pigs'.
After a final fall out with the Kaiser...
Tschudi came to Munich to lead the museums here.
But it was not until 1911...
that the 'Sunflowers' were integrated into the collection of Neue Pinakothek...
as part of the so-called Tschudi donation.
As Tschudi hadn't been allowed to acquire modern French art with public funds...
he worked closely together with private donors...
to gather a wonderful collection.
He continued to show the paintings in the galleries...
and still hoped for them to find a permanent place in our museums.
When Tschudi died, his assistants followed in his footsteps
and, with the help of benefactors,
the 'Sunflowers' and other wonderful French paintings...
for example by Claude Monet or Édouard Manet...
finally and officially became part of Neue Pinakothek.
Let's have a look at both an earlier work of Van Gogh...
as well as a detail of the 'Sunflowers'...
to better understand what the Kaiser and many of his contemporaries...
found so irritating, especially about Van Gogh's art.
Most German paintings did have an even surface at this time...
and were using an array of earthly tones.
In earlier works, such as 'The Weaver', from our collection...
Van Gogh himself had chosen a similar palette...
to visualise the world of the hard-working and poor people of his surroundings.
With its darkness and narrowness we feel the room closing in.
Back when Van Gogh was working on 'The Weaver'...
he was still living in the Netherlands.
With his move to France, everything changed. Having in mind...
that he created the 'Sunflowers' only four years after 'The Weaver'...
we feel just how radical the transformation of his colours was.
You have already noticed the strong contrast of blue and yellow...
which resonates when we look at the Munich version of the 'Sunflowers'.
Apart from this method to create a blazing colour experience...
Van Gogh used his paint directly from the tube...
and applied it with great variation.
There are parts where the canvas is shining through...
while other parts seem almost sculpted.
Such as the pods of the sunflower seeds in the centre of the painting.
Because of the relief that Van Gogh created like this...
the light is broken and captured in certain parts.
This is what gives his paintings their life
but it is also what makes Van Gogh's works so fragile.
Every vibration could cause damages to the painting material.
You can imagine how risky it would be...
to transport the Sunflowers to another location.
We're therefore absolutely thrilled...
to be able to unite five of the original seven sunflower paintings...
in one digital 360 degree room.
Van Gogh wanted to challenge the view of his contemporaries
and, until today, his paintings hold a special fascination.
It is probably why you are watching Sunflowers Live, right now.
Our painting here, at the Neue Pinakothek...
was originally intended as a counterpart to the one in the National Gallery.
And its motive was the basis...
for the version now in the holdings of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
My colleague Jennifer Thompson is already waiting for you over there...
to tell you more about the Philadelphia side of the story.
So stay tuned and switch to Philadelphia's Facebook page in a couple of minutes.
You will find the link in the comment section below.
Don't forget to also have a look at our 360 degree exhibition afterwards.
You can revisit all five of Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers'...
and listen to the story of his great-grand nephew Willem.
Thank you for visiting us here in Munich.
We hope to see you again on our website or in our galleries.
And with this and a last look at the Munich 'Sunflowers'...
I hand over to Philadelphia.
Jennifer, how about the painting in your collection?
Is it just like ours?