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Museum Ludwig
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Museum Ludwig
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The collection of the Museum Ludwig comprises the
most important stages and positions in the development of 20th
century art and contemporary art.
Roy Lichtenstein’s “Maybe“, Andy Warhol’s
“Brillo Boxes“ and George Segal’s “Restaurant
Window”, all icons of American Pop Art, had just been completed
when in 1969 they were included as loans in the collection of
the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. The works came from Peter and Irene
Ludwig who have built up the biggest collection of Pop Art outside
the USA.
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Nikolai Suetin
Suprematism, ca. 1920-1921,
Oil on canvas, 68,5 x 50,5 cm, Ludwig Collection
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In 1976 the Museum Ludwig was founded with a gift
of 350 works of modern art by the Ludwigs. It was to be the first
museum in Cologne to exhibit contemporary art. Apart from pop
art the Ludwigs also donated a large collection of Russian Avantgarde
from the period 1906 to 1930 and a voluminous collection of several
hundred works by Pablo Picasso as a permanent loan. The works
by Picasso have meanwhile become the property of the Museum Ludwig
thanks to two generous gifts in 1994 and 2001.
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Alexej von Jawlenski,
Woman´s head,
ca. 1912. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 1998
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The modern section of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
with the collection of expressionists of the Cologne advocate
Josef Haubrich formed the basis of the collection of contemporary
art and was also integrated into the Museum Ludwig.
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Isa Genzken / Wolfgang
Tillmans:
Science Fiction / Being satisfied here and now, view of
the exhibition
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The museum has continued to systematically collect
contemporary art. New acquisitions were often only a few months
old when they were bought. Thus German art from the 70s and 80s,
international trends and installations by the younger avantgarde
also found their way into the collection of the Museum Ludwig.
The building designed by the architects Peter Busmann
and Godfried Haberer was opened in 1986. It is located between
the Cathedral, the river Rhine and the main station. It housed
the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, the Museum Ludwig and the Philharmonie.
In January 2001 the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum moved into its own
building so that 20th century and contemporary art now have roughly
8000 sq. metres of exhibition space at their disposal.
Kasper König has been director of the museum
since November 2000. His name is associated with major exhibitions
such as “Westkunst”, “von hier aus” and
“skulptur.projekte Münster”. He is concerned
to promote a dialogue between visitors and works of art by making
use of the project rooms AC: and DC: and by staging numerous events.
“The museum should be used, not visited, as it belongs to
everyone and no-one.”
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