The entire third story of both the north and south wings is devoted to the exhibit of the Dusseldorf Art Academy between tradition and renewal. Ever since it was founded, its director Peter von Cornelius and his successor Wilhelm Schadow paved the way for it to become a world-renowned art academy and a center of developments in international art. While in the early years Nazarene art was emphasized, the establishment of the Dusseldorf School of Painting made it a pioneer in the further development of historical, landscape and genre painting. In the passageway between the north and south wing, sketches and photographs illustrate the teaching that took place inside.

The south wing is given over to the art of the twentieth century and contemporary art. Pairs of works displayed in dialogical relationship to each other break up the chronological display over and over again, thereby revealing artistic constants lasting through the currents of time.