The Berlinische Galerie is a museum of modern art, photography and architecture in Berlin. It is located in Kreuzberg, on Alte Jakobstraße, not far from the Jewish Museum. The Berlinische Galerie collects art created in Berlin since 1870 with a regional and international focus. Since September 2010, the museum's director has been the art historian Thomas Köhler, until then deputy director, succeeding Jörn Merkert. History The Berlinische Galerie was founded in 1975 as a society devoted to exhibiting art from Berlin. For the first few years it was based in an office in Charlottenburg, and its exhibitions were displayed at the Akademie der Künste and the New National Gallery among others. In 1978 the Galerie moved into a former Landwehr officers' mess (now the Museum of Photography) on Jebensstraße, near Zoo Station. In 1986 it moved again, into the Martin-Gropius-Bau. In 1994 the collection became a public-law foundation. In 1998 the Berlinische Galerie had to leave the Martin-Gropius-Bau due to reconstruction. After six years without a permanent home, it opened in its new location, in former industrial premises in Kreuzberg, in 2004. Built in 1965, the current building was originally a glass warehouse, and took the Galerie a year to renovate. The museum reopened again in 2015 following a €6 million refurbishment that mainly involved updating the museum's security and technical equipment. Collection The Berlinische Galerie collects art created in Berlin from the end of the 19th century (since 1870) to the present. The collection is interdisciplinary. Painting, sculpture, installation and media art, graphic art, photography, architecture and the documentary estates of artists are among the holdings. The collection consists of five collection areas: Fine Arts, Prints and Drawings, Photography, Architecture and Artists' Archives. Fine Arts The Fine Arts Collection contains around 5000 objects. Among them are works by prominent artists such as Max Beckmann, Hannah Höch, Naum Gabo, Georg Baselitz, Wolf Vostell, Ursula Sax and John Bock. Works by numerous artist groups are also represented, e.g. the Berlin Secession, Dada Berlin, the Eastern European avant-gardes, the Neue Wilde and the young art scene after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Golden Twenties form a focal point. Prints and Drawings The collection Prints and Drawings comprises around 15,000 sheets, including prints and above all drawings. The works represent the diversity of art historical developments in Berlin: from Dada Berlin, late Expressionism from 1914, the Eastern European avant-garde