The people of Munich do not like their city to be associated only as a city of beer and the Oktoberfest. And indeed, the Bavarian kings transformed Munich into a city of arts and science in the 19th century. Its outstanding position among other German cities may have faded a bit, due to [wiki=ee1611b61f5688e70c12b40684dbb395]Berlin[/wiki] becoming the German capital again in the 1990s, but Munich still remains Germany's number-one place for art, science and culture.
Munich is internationally known for its collection of ancient, classic and modern art, which can be found in numerous museums throughout the city. Munich's most renowned museums are located in the Kunstareal in Maxvorstadt including the Alte Pinakothek (European paintings from the 13th to 18th century), the Neue Pinakothek (European paintings from classicism to art nouveau), the Pinakothek der Moderne (modern art), Museum Brandhorst (modern art) and Glyptothek (ancient Greek and Roman sculptures).
From the Gothic to the Baroque era, the fine arts were represented in Munich by artists like Erasmus Grasser, Jan Polack, Johann Baptist Straub, Ignaz Günther, Hans Krumpper, Ludwig von Schwanthaler, Cosmas Damian Asam, Egid Quirin Asam, Johann Baptist Zimmermann, Johann Michael Fischer and François de Cuvilliés. Munich had already become an important place for painters like Carl Rottmann, Lovis Corinth, Wilhelm von Kaulbach, Carl Spitzweg, Franz von Lenbach, Franz von Stuck and Wilhelm Leibl when Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group of expressionist artists, was established in Munich in 1911. The city was home to the Blue Rider's painters Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc, August Macke and Alfred Kubin.
Munich was also home or host to many famous composers and musicians including Orlando di Lasso, W.A. Mozart, Carl Maria von Weber, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Max Reger and Carl Orff. With the Munich Biennale founded by Hans Werner Henze, and the A*DEvantgarde festival, the city still contributes to modern music theatre. The Nationaltheater, where several of Richard Wagner's operas had their premieres under the patronage of King Ludwig II, is the home of the world famous Bavarian State Opera and the Bavarian State Orchestra. Next door the modern Residenz Theatre was erected in the building that had housed the Cuvilliés Theatre before World War II. Many operas were staged there, including the premiere of Mozart's "Idomeneo" in 1781. The Gärtnerplatz Theatre is a ballet and musical state theatre while another opera house, the Prinzregententheater, has become the home of the Bavarian Theatre Academy. The modern Gasteig center houses the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The third orchestra in Munich with international importance is the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which was named the 6th best orchestra in the world by The Gramophone magazine in 2008. Its primary concert venue is the Herkulessaal in the former city royal residence, the Residenz.
Many prominent literates worked in Munich such as Paul Heyse, Max Halbe, Rainer Maria Rilke and Frank Wedekind. The period immediately before World War I saw economic and cultural prominence for the city. Munich, and especially the districts of Maxvorstadt and Schwabing, became the domicile of many artists and writers. Nobel laureate Thomas Mann, who also lived there, wrote ironically in his novella Gladius Dei about this period, "Munich shone". It remained a center of cultural life during the Weimar era with figures such as Lion Feuchtwanger, Bertolt Brecht and Oskar Maria Graf.
The Bavaria Film Studios were founded in Geiselgasteig in 1919 by the film producer Peter Ostermayr. Alfred Hitchcock made his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in Geiselgasteig in 1925. The studios have been used by numerous famous directors, such as Max Ophüls (Lola Montez, 1954), Stanley Kubrick (Paths of Glory, 1957), John Huston (Freud: The Secret Passion, 1960), Robert Siodmak (L'Affaire Nina B, 1960), Billy Wilder (One, Two, Three, 1961), John Sturges (The Great Escape, 1963), Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, 1965), Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, (1971), Bob Fosse (Cabaret, 1972), Ingmar Bergman (The Serpent's Egg, 1977), Robert Aldrich (Twilight's Last Gleaming, 1977), Wolfgang Petersen (Enemy Mine, 1985), Claude Chabrol and Wim Wenders. Other famous movies shot at the studios are Das Boot (1981), The Neverending Story (1984) and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006).
