Museum Ludwig, Cologne - History of a Collection with Civic Commitments

14.10.2022 - 22.01.2023

Museum Ludwig, Cologne - History of a Collection with Civic Commitments

Press release Museum Ludwig:

Museum Ludwig is sending a top-class selection of more than 150 works from its collection to Japan. From June 29 to September 26, 2022, the presentation will be on view at the National Art Center in Tokyo and from October 14, 2022, to January 22, 2023, at the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto. Among them are works by Max Beckmann, Josef Beuys, Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Kasimir Malevich, Franz Marc, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and many other artists*.

The presentation is supplemented by a compilation of photographs from the Museum Ludwig's extensive collection, for example by Hugo Erfurth, Candida Höfer and Man Ray. With the acquisition of the Gruber Collection in 1977, the Museum Ludwig was one of the first art museums in the old Federal Republic to build up a collection of photography.

Mayor Henriette Reker: "The wish of two of the most important museums in Japan to exhibit a representative overview from the Museum Ludwig collection shows the importance and international reputation that the Museum Ludwig enjoys. I am very proud that the Japanese public can now experience the original works. It is in keeping with the idea of world art of the collector and benefactor couple Peter and Irene Ludwig that these wonderful works are being shown worldwide.""I am particularly pleased that the presentation in Japan focuses on the history of the development of the Museum Ludwig collection. This illustrates the importance of art museums in our society and shows how civic engagement can contribute to making art an experience for all," says Stefan Charles, head of the Department of Culture.

The Museum Ludwig was founded in 1976 by a donation of 350 works of modern art by the collector couple Peter and Irene Ludwig. Thanks to them, the Museum Ludwig has the world's third-largest Picasso collection, the most extensive Pop Art collection outside the United States, an important collection on the Russian avant-garde, and numerous other significant works of modern and contemporary art.

Significant holdings came to Museum Ludwig through other dedicated collectors. Josef Haubrich donated his collection of modern art, with an emphasis on works of Expressionism, to the city of Cologne immediately after World War II. Haubrich himself emphasized that he was primarily concerned with young people, whom he wanted to use his collection to familiarize with the art that had been kept from them by the Nazi regime. The sum negotiated by Haubrich for the care and expansion of the museum's collection, amounting to an alderman's salary, ensured a steady expansion of the museum's collection.

As a kind of opening gift for the new museum building, the Georg and Lilly von Schnitzler collection was acquired as a bequest in 1957. Although the acquisition of ten paintings by Max Beckmann was a purchase, it was far below the market value of the works at the time.

Just one year later, more than forty works from the estate of the collector Wilhelm Strecker were purchased for 1.5 million German marks, including the paintings by Georges Braque, (Plat de fruits and Pichet, citrons, compotier), Paul Klee (Narr in Trance), Oskar Kokoschka (Portrait of Peter Baum), Amedeo Modigliani, (L'Algérienne) and Pablo Picasso (Mandoline, compotier, bras de marbre), now on display in Japan.

As of 1976, the Museum Ludwig received core holdings of the collection of the glass manufacturers Peill from Düren. These include an extensive collection of works by Ernst Wilhelm Nay, with whom the couple Günter and Carola Peill cultivated a friendship that lasted for decades. Together with works of Classical Modernism, such as "Birth of Comedy" by Max Ernst or "Fairy Tale Princess with Fan" by Alexej von Jawlensky, many of them are now among the highlights of the Museum Ludwig.

Important contributions to the expansion of the Museum Ludwig collection have been made to this day by the two sponsoring associations, the Society for Modern Art at the Museum Ludwig, especially with the Wolfgang Hahn Prize, which has been awarded annually since 1994, and the Friends of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum and Museum Ludwig.

"To be invited to the National Art Center in Tokyo as well as the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto with a selection of works from the collection of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne is a pleasure and an honor for us. Parting with a large number of important works over such a long period of time was a challenge for us, but one that we were happy to take on. For the visitors in Cologne, we have lifted treasures from the depot that could not be shown for a long time due to the limited space. So you can look forward to rediscovering old acquaintances," says Yilmaz Dziewior, director of Museum Ludwig.