The museum’s collection includes a vast number of unique masterpieces of Expressionism, Bauhaus, Surrealism and Cubism, traceable in the pieces by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger and Juan Gris. The Picasso collection, installed in the Museum Berggruen, set opposite the Charlottenburg Palace, provides a complementary showcase of the New National Gallery Cubism displays.

Among the collection’s most stunning sections are the displays dedicated to Expressionist Art, which include a vast number of principal pieces by the artistic group Die Brücke, which features paintings and sculptures by artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Of particular note is Kirchner’s 'Potsdamer Platz' canvas, depicting a scene of 1914 Berlin nightlife shortly after the beginning of World War I. The museum’s collection also includes 11 paintings by Max Beckmann, from 1906 to 1942, providing insight into the artist’s work and life. Surrealism is represented by works by Max Ernst, Dalí and Joan Miró. The pieces by Otto Dix and George Grosz document the Verism and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Sobriety) movements, while Bauhaus is illustrated by pieces from Paul Klee and Kandinsky.

The museum building comprises some 5,000 square metres of exhibition space and 800 metres of wall space hidden halfway underground, beneath the steel and glass construction. The spacious glass hall located on the ground level, as well as the basement gallery space, are also used for special exhibitions. Sculpture buffs will find a number of works in the gallery’s immediate surroundings, and also in the western sculpture garden. The garden features a variety of important works spanning figurative and abstract representations.