At selected points, pictures from the historical avant-garde enter into dialogues with works by contemporary artists of the non-Western canon, including Etel Adnan, Nevin Aladağ, and Kader Attia. In addition, classical works by the Surrealists Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Joan Miró, and Max Ernst are complemented by recent acquisitions of Egyptian Surrealism.

Movements after the end of the Second World War are represented by works by the likes of, among others, Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, and Helena Vieira da Silva. The monumental installation Palazzo Regale by Joseph Beuys is on permanent display.

In the Henkel Gallery, visitors encounter works by, among others, Imi Knoebel and Rosemarie Trockel, as well as an early, expansive floor sculpture by Isa Genzken.