The Albertinum is the essential complement to the Zwinger's Old Masters: where the Zwinger covers the Renaissance and Baroque, the Albertinum takes over from the 19th century and runs to the present day. The building itself is a converted royal arsenal on the Brühlsche Terrasse, refurbished and reopened in 2010 with a dramatic central courtyard that now serves as the main hall.
The Galerie Neue Meister (New Masters Gallery) on the upper floors holds one of the most important collections of German Romantic painting in the world. Caspar David Friedrich — who lived and worked in Dresden — is represented here as nowhere else, including the haunting "Two Men Contemplating the Moon" and several of his trademark Baltic and Bohemian landscapes. Friedrich's obsession with figures seen from behind, dwarfed by nature, made him the defining painter of the German Romantic imagination, and Dresden was his city.
The collection continues through the Realist and Impressionist periods with works by Monet and Degas, then into German Expressionism, the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), and postwar abstraction. The sculpture collection on the lower floors includes major works by Rodin and Degas cast in bronze, and a strong line of 20th-century German sculpture.
The Albertinum is often less crowded than the Zwinger, which makes it a more relaxed place to spend time. The bookshop is excellent for Friedrich reproductions and catalogues.