"The most beautiful Museum in the World"
Museum Folkwang until 1933
Paul Gauguin, Cavaliers sur la plage (I), 1902 / Photo: © Museum Folkwang, Essen
The first major special exhibition to be held in the new building of Folkwang Museum is devoted to the unique Folkwang Collection and its history. The focus here is on the reconstruction of the collection, which was founded by Karl Ernst Osthaus in 1902, transferred to Essen shortly after his untimely death in 1921 and subsequently developed by Ernst Gosebruch into an institution with a worldwide reputation.
This success story was described with incomparable simplicity by the co-founder of the New York Museum of Modern Art Paul J. Sachs during a visit to Essen in 1932 when he stated that the "Folkwang Museum" was the "most beautiful museum in the world".
A short time later the Nazis put a brutal halt to the progressive purchasing and exhibition policies of the museum and in 1937 confiscated more than 1400 works, which were subsequently legally sold and now form some of the great masterpieces in international museums and private collections, including paintings by Kandinsky, Matisse, Kirchner, Marc, Munch and Beckmann.
Sachs' words have now been used as the title of a special exhibition - and describe a concept that for the first time brings an old treasure of the museum back into the spotlight. As in the time of Osthaus, the masters of modern art now stand next to sculptures and objects from China, Japan, Greece, Egypt, Java and Oceania. The exhibition reconstructs this great collection for a period of four months and makes it an inspiring starting point for the future work of the museum.
A catalogue will be produced for the exhibition with articles by renowned experts from Europe and the USA.
March 20 - July 25, 2010
Museum Folkwang, Essen
Tues - Sun 10:00-20:00
Fri 10:00-24:00
Closed Mondays
Partner: E.ON Ruhrgas
You can find further information at
www.museum-folkwang.de