Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen
Encyclopedia
The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
, located in Düsseldorf
. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the K20 at Grabbeplatz, the K21 in the Ständehaus and the Schmela Haus. The Kunstsammlung was founded in 1961 by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia as a foundation under private law for the purpose of displaying the art collection and expanding it through new acquisitions.
During its 50 year history, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen has earned an international reputation as a museum for the art of the 20th century. For some time now, however, the chronological spectrum of the collection - which was initiated through the purchase of works by Paul Klee
- has extended up to the immediate present. The building at Grabbeplatz (K20), with its characteristic black granite façade, was inaugurated in 1986. An extension building was completed in 2010.
With major works by Pablo Picasso
, Henri Matisse
, and Piet Mondrian
, among others, as well as a wide-ranging ensemble of circa 100 drawings and paintings by Paul Klee
, the permanent collection of the Kunstsammlung offers a singular perspective of classical modernism. The collection of postwar American art includes works by Jackson Pollock
and Frank Stella
and by Pop artists Robert Rauschenberg
, Jasper Johns
, and Andy Warhol
; other high points of the collection are works by Joseph Beuys
, Gerhard Richter
, Tony Cragg
, Sarah Morris
, Katharina Fritsch
, and Imi Knoebel
.
Opened in spring of 2002 as an additional venue of the Kunstsammlung was the Ständehaus (K21) set alongside the Kaiserteich, a building which formerly served as the seat of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia
. Among the highlights on view there are a number of artist’s rooms and large-scale installations, a special focus of this portion of the collection.
The Schmela Haus, located in Düsseldorf
’s historic district, joined the Kunstsammlung in 2009 as a "rehearsal stage" and lecture venue. When it first opened in 1971, this protected landmark by Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck
(1918–1999) was home to the Galerie Alfred Schmela, and was the first building to be erected in the Federal Republic of Germany expressly as an art gallery. Since spring of 2011, the Schmela Haus is also used again for exhibitions.
As an institution with three locations, the Kunstsammlung has more than 10,000 m² of exhibition surface at its disposal.
With its accompanying programs and special projects, the Education Department strives to make the works held in the Regional Collection accessible to visitors of all ages. Available for this purpose are a number of studios, a media workshop, and a "laboratory" which is integrated into the exhibition galleries.
from the collection of Pittsburgh steel manufacturer G. David Thompson. The purchase - brokered by Basel art dealer Ernst Beyeler and overseen by then state premiere Franz Meyer - forms the nucleus of the collection, founded in 1961 under the title "Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen". Between 1962 and his retirement in 1990, Werner Schmalenbach served as the first director of the newly-founded collection. He assembled an extraordinarily high-quality collection of classical modernist artworks, thereby creating the only regional collection in Germany
specializing in modern art
. To begin with, the collection was housed in Jägerhof Palace. Soon after it opened, space limitations prompted plans for a new building. Announced in 1975 was a competition for its design; the winning proposal was submitted by the Danish architectural office of Dissing+Weitling. The building – which resides within architectural history at the transition from postwar modernism
to postmodernism
- was inaugurated on 14 March 1986 in the presence of the then German President Richard von Weizsäcker
, and has served ever since as an emblem of the city. With its curved façade of polished, natural black stone, the building gives Grabbeplatz its special character. It sits on the square directly across from the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
, whose building also serves as the headquarters of the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen.
In 1990, Schmalenbach was succeeded as Director by Armin Zweite, formerly head of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus
in Munich
. While Schmalenbach had expanded the museum's holdings for the most part through the addition of masterworks of painting, it was primarily contemporary sculptures, installations, and photographs of international rank which entered the collection beginning in 1990 through the efforts of his successor. On 1 September 2009, Marion Ackermann - former director of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
- assumed artistic directorship of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. She has taken a dynamic approach to the collection, and seeks to relate contemporary art
and classic modern to one another more closely. Together with Hagen Lippe-Weißenfeld, who joined the team on 1 November 2008 as Director of Finance and Business Affairs, Ackermann serves on the Chairmanship of the Foundation.
On 12 November 2009, the Kunstsammlung inaugurated the former home of the Galerie Schmela, located at Mutter-Ey-Straße 3 in Düsseldorf-Altstadt
, as a venue for exhibitions, discussions and other activities.
After remaining closed for more than two years during comprehensive renovations and the erection of an extension building, the K20 at Grabbeplatz resumed operations as an exhibition venue in July 2010. Available now for the collection and for temporary exhibitions is a generous surface area. The first artists to exhibit there were Belgian illustrator Kris Martin and German sculptor Michael Sailstorfer, who created accessible installations for the two galleries of the new building, namely the Klee Halle and the Konrad und Gabriele Henkel Galerie, which together offer almost 2.000 m².
During the first two weeks after the reopening alone, nearly 60,000 visitors took advantage of free admission to the Kunstsammlung. The museum welcomed its 100,000th visitor on 21 October 2010. Contributing to the new and more emphatic public presence of the Kunstsammlung - which is now able to display the art collections of this federal state more comprehensively than ever before - is the large-scale mosaic mural "Hornet", composed of colorful tiles and the work of American artist Sarah Morris
. With its length of 27 meters, it has become attractive landmark on the newly created Paul Klee Platz along the rear façade of the K20.
Featured on a regular basis in the venues of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen alongside presentations of the permanent collection are internationally acclaimed temporary exhibitions.
On view from 11 September 2010 to 16 January 2011 in the K20 and the Schmela Haus was the ambitious Joseph Beuys
exhibition "Parallelprozesse/Parallel Processes", organized around large-scale installation works dating from all creative periods of this artist. This exhibition - the first special presentation mounted after the reopening of the Kunstsammlung am Grabbeplatz - formed part of the program of the Düsseldorf Quadriennale, and was seen by 103,000 visitors.
, the Copenhagen
architecture office of Dissing+Weitling created a building which features details typical of its time and positions the qualities of the artworks on display in the foreground.
The entrance area opens onto the Grabbe Halle on the same level, the building’s tallest gallery space, which features 14-meter ceilings. Used for temporary exhibitions, this hall measures 600 m² and is free of supporting pillars.
From the lobby, three single-flight staircases arranged one behind the next provide access to the two upper stories. Like the galleries in the 2nd upper story, the large hall in the 1st upper story enjoys natural top lighting.
The foundation stone for the extension was laid in 2008 and the new building was inaugurated in July 2010. Realized by the same architectural office, the new building perpetuates the architectural idiom of the original structure. During the two-year-long period of closure, the original building was completely renovated and brought up to current technical standards.
Available now in the two new exhibition halls of the extension building - both free of supporting pillars - are altogether 2000 m² of surface area. The Klee Halle is positioned on the right-hand side of the foyer of the old building, and is mainly used for temporary exhibitions. With a clearance space of 6.4 meters, the hall is illuminated artificially by more than 500 spotlights. A narrow staircase in the rear connects the ground floor level with the new upper hall. The entire exhibition surface of the Kunstsammlung am Grabbeplatz now amounts to more than 5000 m².
, and became the second main pillar of the Kunstsammlung for modern and contemporary art.
Between 1876 and 1880, the Ständehaus in Düsseldorf
was erected in the historicist neo-Renaissance
style by architect Julius Raschdorff. For many years, the Ständehaus accommodated the Provincial Diet of the Prussian province of the Rhineland. The Parliament of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
met there between 1949 and 1988. Following the relocation of the Parliament, the Ständehaus remained empty and unused for 14 years.
Surrounding the building’s central public square - which takes the form of a spacious piazza - are four wings containing continuous arcade passageways. The three-year conversion of this representative building in the historicist style was undertaken by the architects Kiessler+Partner of Munich
. They created a modern museum building with a striking glazed domed roof in the form of an elongated cloister vault, composed of 1919 sheets of glass, which shapes the building’s aesthetic appearance.
While the outer façade has been preserved, nearly all original fixtures were removed from the interior. The historic staircase was retained, and now leads to the galleries in the three upper stories. The flexible exhibition galleries in the basement level, together with the upper rooms, add up to altogether 5300 m² of exhibition surface.
(1918–1999), a key representative of structuralist architecture. Inaugurated in 1971, and now under landmarks protection, it was the first building in the Federal German Republic to be erected specifically as a private art gallery. The five-story building, built from gray pumice, is characterized by its interplay of interior and exterior and between its private residential and public exhibition spaces. The building was purchased by the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
after being vacated by the gallery.
51°13′38"N 6°46′32"E
, Wassily Kandinsky
and Jackson Pollock
, and installations by Joseph Beuys
and Nam June Paik
. Alongside these works, which have long since achieved iconic status, are additional outstanding examples of classical modernism, of American art after 1945, along with major installation works, photographs, and film and video pieces by contemporary artists. Critics have referred to the collection - whose individual works are notable for their outstanding quality - as a “secret National Gallery”.
The focus of the collection is classical modernism. Stylistically, the works from before 1945 range from Fauvism
, Expressionism
, Pittura Metafisica, and Cubism
to works by members of the Blaue Reiter group, as well as Dada
and Surrealism
. The collection also includes 100 works by Paul Klee
. In 1960, the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
earmarked 6 million German Marks for the purchase of 88 paintings, drawings, and color studies on paper by Klee - an ensemble which formed the nucleus of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Although the price tag seemed high at the time, it appears a rare bargain from today's perspective. The works came from a private American collection in Pittsburgh.
Among groups of works by individual artists is an ensemble of 12 by Pablo Picasso
which encompasses nearly all of the major creative phases of his career. Cubism
forms an important focus of the collection, with works in the style by Pablo Picasso
, Fernand Léger
, Juan Gris
, Georges Braque
and others.
Art after 1945 is represented primarily by circa 40 major pieces by American artists. Among these are works by Mark Rothko
, Robert Rauschenberg
, Andy Warhol
, Donald Judd
and Jackson Pollock
, whose monumental Number 32 from 1950 is one of the few mural-sized drip painting
s by this artist, and is regarded as a key exemplar of Abstract Expressionism
. Among the four works by Robert Rauschenberg
is Wager, which dates from 1957 and is one of the largest and most complex of his "combine paintings".
European postwar art is represented among others by the works of Markus Lüpertz
, Per Kirkeby
, Gerhard Richter
and Joseph Beuys
, whose late work "Palazzo Regale", acquired in 1992, has been supplemented by a further 60 works. These were formerly owned by Düsseldorf art collector Günter Ulbricht.
Installations and artist’s rooms are an important focus of the Kunstsammlung, an area which has been expanded continuously in recent years (through works by Marcel Broodthaers
, for example). German photography is represented in the collection by the works of Bernd and Hilla Becher
and other exponents of the Düsseldorf School of photographers. In the realm of new media, i.e. film and video, the collection continues to expand, and presently contains around 90 works.
In 2005, the private collection of Simone and Heinz Ackermans, which contained 150 works of international contemporary art, was acquired by the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia
following the display of selected works from the collection at the K21 from 2002 to 2005. The focus of the Ackermans Collection is art since the 1980s, on figurative sculpture, photographic works, installations, as well as film and video works.
The Gesellschaft der Freunde der Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V. (Society of Friends of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen) has provided the Kunstsammlung with support since 1968. The functions fulfilled by the Society are described in its bylaws, and encompass the conceptual and material furtherance of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Its chief priority is the acquisition of works of art. Thanks to the Friends of the Kunstsammlung, a number of the museum’s otherwise unattainable goals in this area have been fulfilled.
In order to cope successfully with a set of challenges which has grown continuously as the museum has expanded to occupy three separate buildings (the K20, the K21 and the Schmela Haus), the Society must call upon a continuously expanding community of "friends" who are prepared to provide both conceptual and material support for this internationally recognized museum of modern and contemporary art.
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, located in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the K20 at Grabbeplatz, the K21 in the Ständehaus and the Schmela Haus. The Kunstsammlung was founded in 1961 by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia as a foundation under private law for the purpose of displaying the art collection and expanding it through new acquisitions.
During its 50 year history, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen has earned an international reputation as a museum for the art of the 20th century. For some time now, however, the chronological spectrum of the collection - which was initiated through the purchase of works by Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
- has extended up to the immediate present. The building at Grabbeplatz (K20), with its characteristic black granite façade, was inaugurated in 1986. An extension building was completed in 2010.
With major works by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, and Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
, among others, as well as a wide-ranging ensemble of circa 100 drawings and paintings by Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
, the permanent collection of the Kunstsammlung offers a singular perspective of classical modernism. The collection of postwar American art includes works by Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
and Frank Stella
Frank Stella
Frank Stella is an American painter and printmaker, significant within the art movements of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction.-Biography:...
and by Pop artists Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
, Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
, and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
; other high points of the collection are works by Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...
, Tony Cragg
Tony Cragg
Tony Cragg is a British visual artist specialized in sculpture. He is currently the director of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.-Early life:Cragg was born in Liverpool in 1949...
, Sarah Morris
Sarah Morris
Sarah Morris , is a British-born American artist.-Education and exhibitions:Morris double majored in Semiotics and Political Philosophy at Brown University, graduating magna cum laude...
, Katharina Fritsch
Katharina Fritsch
Katharina Fritsch is a contemporary sculptor. She currently lives and works in Düsseldorf.-Life:...
, and Imi Knoebel
Imi Knoebel
Imi Knoebel, born Klaus Wolf Knoebel , is a German artist. He is known primarily for his minimalist and abstract painting and sculpture. The "Messerschnitt" or "knife cuts," are a recurring technique he employs, along with his regular use of the primary colors, red, yellow and blue...
.
Opened in spring of 2002 as an additional venue of the Kunstsammlung was the Ständehaus (K21) set alongside the Kaiserteich, a building which formerly served as the seat of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
. Among the highlights on view there are a number of artist’s rooms and large-scale installations, a special focus of this portion of the collection.
The Schmela Haus, located in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
’s historic district, joined the Kunstsammlung in 2009 as a "rehearsal stage" and lecture venue. When it first opened in 1971, this protected landmark by Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck
Aldo van Eyck
Aldo van Eyck or van Eijk was an architect from the Netherlands.-Family:...
(1918–1999) was home to the Galerie Alfred Schmela, and was the first building to be erected in the Federal Republic of Germany expressly as an art gallery. Since spring of 2011, the Schmela Haus is also used again for exhibitions.
As an institution with three locations, the Kunstsammlung has more than 10,000 m² of exhibition surface at its disposal.
With its accompanying programs and special projects, the Education Department strives to make the works held in the Regional Collection accessible to visitors of all ages. Available for this purpose are a number of studios, a media workshop, and a "laboratory" which is integrated into the exhibition galleries.
History
The history of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen begins in 1960 with the purchase of 88 works by Paul KleePaul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
from the collection of Pittsburgh steel manufacturer G. David Thompson. The purchase - brokered by Basel art dealer Ernst Beyeler and overseen by then state premiere Franz Meyer - forms the nucleus of the collection, founded in 1961 under the title "Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen". Between 1962 and his retirement in 1990, Werner Schmalenbach served as the first director of the newly-founded collection. He assembled an extraordinarily high-quality collection of classical modernist artworks, thereby creating the only regional collection in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
specializing in modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
. To begin with, the collection was housed in Jägerhof Palace. Soon after it opened, space limitations prompted plans for a new building. Announced in 1975 was a competition for its design; the winning proposal was submitted by the Danish architectural office of Dissing+Weitling. The building – which resides within architectural history at the transition from postwar modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
to postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
- was inaugurated on 14 March 1986 in the presence of the then German President Richard von Weizsäcker
Richard von Weizsäcker
Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker , known as Richard von Weizsäcker, is a German politician . He served as Governing Mayor of West Berlin from 1981 to 1984, and as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1984 to 1994...
, and has served ever since as an emblem of the city. With its curved façade of polished, natural black stone, the building gives Grabbeplatz its special character. It sits on the square directly across from the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
-Building:The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available precast concrete for the construction work.-History:...
, whose building also serves as the headquarters of the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen.
In 1990, Schmalenbach was succeeded as Director by Armin Zweite, formerly head of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus
Lenbachhaus
The Lenbachhaus in Munich houses an art museum and is part of Munich's "Kunstareal" .- The building :The Lenbachhaus was built as a Florentine-style villa for the painter Franz von Lenbach between 1887 and 1891 by Gabriel von Seidl...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. While Schmalenbach had expanded the museum's holdings for the most part through the addition of masterworks of painting, it was primarily contemporary sculptures, installations, and photographs of international rank which entered the collection beginning in 1990 through the efforts of his successor. On 1 September 2009, Marion Ackermann - former director of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart is a contemporary and modern art museum in Stuttgart, Germany, built and opened in 2005.-Description:The cubic museum building with 5000 m² of display space was designed by Berlin architects Hascher and Jehle...
- assumed artistic directorship of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. She has taken a dynamic approach to the collection, and seeks to relate contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
and classic modern to one another more closely. Together with Hagen Lippe-Weißenfeld, who joined the team on 1 November 2008 as Director of Finance and Business Affairs, Ackermann serves on the Chairmanship of the Foundation.
On 12 November 2009, the Kunstsammlung inaugurated the former home of the Galerie Schmela, located at Mutter-Ey-Straße 3 in Düsseldorf-Altstadt
Düsseldorf-Altstadt
The Altstadt is one of the 49 boroughs of Düsseldorf, Germany; it belongs to central City District 1. The Düsseldorfer Altstadt is known as "the longest bar in the world" , because the small Old Town has more than 300 bars and discothèques.Famous is the special beer from Düsseldorf, the Altbier ,...
, as a venue for exhibitions, discussions and other activities.
After remaining closed for more than two years during comprehensive renovations and the erection of an extension building, the K20 at Grabbeplatz resumed operations as an exhibition venue in July 2010. Available now for the collection and for temporary exhibitions is a generous surface area. The first artists to exhibit there were Belgian illustrator Kris Martin and German sculptor Michael Sailstorfer, who created accessible installations for the two galleries of the new building, namely the Klee Halle and the Konrad und Gabriele Henkel Galerie, which together offer almost 2.000 m².
During the first two weeks after the reopening alone, nearly 60,000 visitors took advantage of free admission to the Kunstsammlung. The museum welcomed its 100,000th visitor on 21 October 2010. Contributing to the new and more emphatic public presence of the Kunstsammlung - which is now able to display the art collections of this federal state more comprehensively than ever before - is the large-scale mosaic mural "Hornet", composed of colorful tiles and the work of American artist Sarah Morris
Sarah Morris
Sarah Morris , is a British-born American artist.-Education and exhibitions:Morris double majored in Semiotics and Political Philosophy at Brown University, graduating magna cum laude...
. With its length of 27 meters, it has become attractive landmark on the newly created Paul Klee Platz along the rear façade of the K20.
Featured on a regular basis in the venues of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen alongside presentations of the permanent collection are internationally acclaimed temporary exhibitions.
On view from 11 September 2010 to 16 January 2011 in the K20 and the Schmela Haus was the ambitious Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
exhibition "Parallelprozesse/Parallel Processes", organized around large-scale installation works dating from all creative periods of this artist. This exhibition - the first special presentation mounted after the reopening of the Kunstsammlung am Grabbeplatz - formed part of the program of the Düsseldorf Quadriennale, and was seen by 103,000 visitors.
The K20 am Grabbeplatz
The building which houses the Kunstsammlung K20 am Grabbeplatz, with its distinctive façade of black Bornholm granite, was opened in 1986. Working in the tradition of Arne JacobsenArne Jacobsen
Arne Emil Jacobsen, usually known as Arne Jacobsen, was a Danish architect and designer. He is remembered for contributing so much to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple but effective chair designs.-Early life and education:Arne Jacobsen was born...
, the Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
architecture office of Dissing+Weitling created a building which features details typical of its time and positions the qualities of the artworks on display in the foreground.
The entrance area opens onto the Grabbe Halle on the same level, the building’s tallest gallery space, which features 14-meter ceilings. Used for temporary exhibitions, this hall measures 600 m² and is free of supporting pillars.
From the lobby, three single-flight staircases arranged one behind the next provide access to the two upper stories. Like the galleries in the 2nd upper story, the large hall in the 1st upper story enjoys natural top lighting.
The foundation stone for the extension was laid in 2008 and the new building was inaugurated in July 2010. Realized by the same architectural office, the new building perpetuates the architectural idiom of the original structure. During the two-year-long period of closure, the original building was completely renovated and brought up to current technical standards.
Available now in the two new exhibition halls of the extension building - both free of supporting pillars - are altogether 2000 m² of surface area. The Klee Halle is positioned on the right-hand side of the foyer of the old building, and is mainly used for temporary exhibitions. With a clearance space of 6.4 meters, the hall is illuminated artificially by more than 500 spotlights. A narrow staircase in the rear connects the ground floor level with the new upper hall. The entire exhibition surface of the Kunstsammlung am Grabbeplatz now amounts to more than 5000 m².
The K21 in the Ständehaus
On 18 April 2002, the museum building known as the Ständehaus am Kaiserteich was inaugurated in the presence of German then President Johannes RauJohannes Rau
Johannes Rau was a German politician of the SPD. He was President of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004, and Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.-Education and work:...
, and became the second main pillar of the Kunstsammlung for modern and contemporary art.
Between 1876 and 1880, the Ständehaus in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
was erected in the historicist neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
style by architect Julius Raschdorff. For many years, the Ständehaus accommodated the Provincial Diet of the Prussian province of the Rhineland. The Parliament of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
met there between 1949 and 1988. Following the relocation of the Parliament, the Ständehaus remained empty and unused for 14 years.
Surrounding the building’s central public square - which takes the form of a spacious piazza - are four wings containing continuous arcade passageways. The three-year conversion of this representative building in the historicist style was undertaken by the architects Kiessler+Partner of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. They created a modern museum building with a striking glazed domed roof in the form of an elongated cloister vault, composed of 1919 sheets of glass, which shapes the building’s aesthetic appearance.
While the outer façade has been preserved, nearly all original fixtures were removed from the interior. The historic staircase was retained, and now leads to the galleries in the three upper stories. The flexible exhibition galleries in the basement level, together with the upper rooms, add up to altogether 5300 m² of exhibition surface.
The Schmela Haus
The Schmela Haus was built by Dutch architect Aldo van EyckAldo van Eyck
Aldo van Eyck or van Eijk was an architect from the Netherlands.-Family:...
(1918–1999), a key representative of structuralist architecture. Inaugurated in 1971, and now under landmarks protection, it was the first building in the Federal German Republic to be erected specifically as a private art gallery. The five-story building, built from gray pumice, is characterized by its interplay of interior and exterior and between its private residential and public exhibition spaces. The building was purchased by the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
after being vacated by the gallery.
51°13′38"N 6°46′32"E
Collection
The collection encompasses a singular selection of works from the 20th and 21st centuries. Among the high points are paintings by the German Expressionists, Pablo PicassoPablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
and Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
, and installations by Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
and Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist....
. Alongside these works, which have long since achieved iconic status, are additional outstanding examples of classical modernism, of American art after 1945, along with major installation works, photographs, and film and video pieces by contemporary artists. Critics have referred to the collection - whose individual works are notable for their outstanding quality - as a “secret National Gallery”.
The focus of the collection is classical modernism. Stylistically, the works from before 1945 range from Fauvism
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
, Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, Pittura Metafisica, and Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
to works by members of the Blaue Reiter group, as well as Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
and Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
. The collection also includes 100 works by Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
. In 1960, the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
earmarked 6 million German Marks for the purchase of 88 paintings, drawings, and color studies on paper by Klee - an ensemble which formed the nucleus of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Although the price tag seemed high at the time, it appears a rare bargain from today's perspective. The works came from a private American collection in Pittsburgh.
Among groups of works by individual artists is an ensemble of 12 by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
which encompasses nearly all of the major creative phases of his career. Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
forms an important focus of the collection, with works in the style by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
, Juan Gris
Juan Gris
José Victoriano González-Pérez , better known as Juan Gris, was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked in France most of his life...
, Georges Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
and others.
Art after 1945 is represented primarily by circa 40 major pieces by American artists. Among these are works by Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz , was a Russian-born American painter. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted classification as an "abstract painter".- Childhood :Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Province, Russian...
, Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Donald Judd
Donald Judd
Donald Clarence Judd was an American artist associated with minimalism . In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy...
and Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
, whose monumental Number 32 from 1950 is one of the few mural-sized drip painting
Drip painting
Drip painting is a form of abstract art in which paint is dripped or poured onto the canvas. This style of action painting was experimented with in the first half of the twentieth century by such artists as Francis Picabia, and Max Ernst, who employed drip painting in his works The Bewildered...
s by this artist, and is regarded as a key exemplar of Abstract Expressionism
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
. Among the four works by Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
is Wager, which dates from 1957 and is one of the largest and most complex of his "combine paintings".
European postwar art is represented among others by the works of Markus Lüpertz
Markus Lüpertz
Markus Lüpertz is a contemporary German painter and sculptor.In the 1960s, Lüpertz worked primarily in Berlin, moving on to take a professorship at Karlsruhe at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe in the 1970s, then to Düsseldorf where he was for over twenty years director of the Kunstakademie...
, Per Kirkeby
Per Kirkeby
Per Kirkeby is a Danish painter, poet, filmmaker and sculptor.-Biography:1962 Studies at the Experimental Art School in Copenhagen; works in the School on painting, graphic arts, 8 millimeter films and performance pieces...
, Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...
and Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, whose late work "Palazzo Regale", acquired in 1992, has been supplemented by a further 60 works. These were formerly owned by Düsseldorf art collector Günter Ulbricht.
Installations and artist’s rooms are an important focus of the Kunstsammlung, an area which has been expanded continuously in recent years (through works by Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Broodthaers was a Belgian poet, filmmaker and artist with a highly literate and often witty approach to creating art works....
, for example). German photography is represented in the collection by the works of Bernd and Hilla Becher
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Bernard "Bernd" Becher , and Hilla Becher, née Wobeser , were German artists working as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their extensive series of photographic images, or typologies, of industrial buildings and structures.- Biography :Bernd Becher was born in Siegen...
and other exponents of the Düsseldorf School of photographers. In the realm of new media, i.e. film and video, the collection continues to expand, and presently contains around 90 works.
In 2005, the private collection of Simone and Heinz Ackermans, which contained 150 works of international contemporary art, was acquired by the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
following the display of selected works from the collection at the K21 from 2002 to 2005. The focus of the Ackermans Collection is art since the 1980s, on figurative sculpture, photographic works, installations, as well as film and video works.
Patrons
The Gesellschaft der Freunde der Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V. (Society of Friends of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen) has provided the Kunstsammlung with support since 1968. The functions fulfilled by the Society are described in its bylaws, and encompass the conceptual and material furtherance of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Its chief priority is the acquisition of works of art. Thanks to the Friends of the Kunstsammlung, a number of the museum’s otherwise unattainable goals in this area have been fulfilled.
In order to cope successfully with a set of challenges which has grown continuously as the museum has expanded to occupy three separate buildings (the K20, the K21 and the Schmela Haus), the Society must call upon a continuously expanding community of "friends" who are prepared to provide both conceptual and material support for this internationally recognized museum of modern and contemporary art.
Library
The K20 has at its disposal a publicly accessible specialist library containing literature on the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The holdings encompass more than 100,000 volumes, which can be used on location. Among these are monographs, reference works, exhibition catalogs, periodicals, bulletins, and audiovisual media such as videos and CDs. After the death of the museum’s founding director, the library was renamed the Werner Schmalenbach Library in his honor.Literature
- Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (ed.): Einblicke. Das 20. Jahrhundert in der Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit 2000, ISBN 3-7757-0853-7
- Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf and Prestel Verlag, Munich, Berlin, London, New York (eds.): Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2003, ISBN 978-3-7913-5078-3
- Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (ed.): Meisterwerke des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts, Schirmer/Mosel Produktion 2010, ISBN: 978-3-941773-01-1