The New State Gallery houses a collection of international standing that spans eight centuries. Art from 1800 to 1900 and works from the 20th century provide the main areas of focus. The 19th century is featured in paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, Anselm Feuerbach, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne. From the 20th century there are outstanding individual works and important ensembles by Paul Klee, Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso, Oskar Kokoschka, Willi Baumeister, Oskar Schlemmer, Hans Arp, Georg Baselitz and Anselm Kiefer. Post-1945 art is also represented by works of International Abstraction, Pop Art, Concept Art, Minimalism, Land Art and new movements that have emerged since 1980.
The collection is complemented by works from earlier periods, from Old German Paintings from 1300 to 1550, Italian paintings from 1300 to 1800, Dutch paintings from 1500 to 1700 – including works by Rubens and Rembrandt – through to German paintings of the baroque era.
The Department of Prints and Drawings includes examples from every country in Europe and every artistic era since the Middle Ages.