With its around 200 paintings, sculptures and works on paper, Museum Ludwig presents the Haubrich Collection against the broader backdrop of Classical Modernism. more
Art of the 20th Century and Contemporary Art
The collection at Museum Ludwig begins with the dawn of the 20th century and covers the main stations and currents in Modern art. more
Due to restauration measures and lendings, not all works of our collection can be on view permanently. We try to show an as broad selection of our collection as possible, but not all sections of our collection can be on view at the same time. Thank you for your understanding.
Russian Avant-garde
Museum Ludwig possesses one of the world’s largest collections of the Russian avant-garde, which with over 600 works constitutes the largest section of the permanent loans made by Peter and Irene Ludwig. From Cubo-Futurism to Constructivism – all of the leading artists are represented, often with major works, including 62 works by Kasimir Malevich. more
Picasso
Museum Ludwig has the third largest Picasso collection in the world, after only Paris and Barcelona. Around 900 works from genres painting, sculpture, prints and ceramics give a clear insight into every phase and technique this one-in-a-century artist explored. more
Trends to Realism
Thanks to Haubrich’s commitment, Museum Ludwig has a number of major works from the figurative movements of the Weimar era. Included here are important paintings and works on paper by artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement, such as Otto Dix, George Grosz and the Cologne Progressives, as well as a wide array of photographs from August Sander and Hugo Erfurth.
Bauhaus and De Stijl
Even if geometrical abstraction from outside Russia is not a main focus of Museum Ludwig’s collecting activities, it does have an important collection of works by artists from the Bauhaus, the De Stijl movement, and the Abstraction Création group. Included among these is a striking ensemble by Otto Freundlich, who worked for a time in Cologne. more
Dada and Surrealism
In 1915 a group of poets and artists who had fled the war - Hans Arp, Hugo Ball, Richard Hülsenbeck, Marcel Janko and Tristan Tzara – announced the birth of the artist’s group “Dada”. more
Abstract Expressionism
If anybody knows what Abstract Expressionism is, it is clearly Clement Greenberg, the guru and godfather of this movement. more
Abstraction in Europe
After the Second World War and in part right on into the 1960s, the visual arts were marked by a wealth of more or less expressive forms of abstraction. more
Nouveau Réalisme and Fluxus
Snatching the nimbus of autonomy and the sublime from art, connecting it with life and its banal side, and removing the division between product and production – these goals united two art movements founded in the early 60s in Europe and the USA. more
Pop Art
Like many of the names for avant-garde art movements, the Pop Art label was first used as a term of abuse, for it was viewed as an act of treason against the lofty values of artistic originality and genius. more
Minimal and Conceptual Art
While Minimal Art around 1970 transformed the customary notion of art by questioning the basic issues regarding "discrete objects" and their presentation, Conceptual Art went a step further: simply the idea and the concept for realising it was considered valid as art. more
Painting Today
"Exit from the painting" – this catchy phrase coined by art historian Laszlo Glozer captured the wholesale questioning of the genres that can be seen from 1960 onwards. But for a long time nobody noticed that a new generation of now important painters was growing up at the same time. more
Sculptures and Installations Today
Even though everyday materials and technical media have long established themselves as valid means for contemporary sculptures and installations, the traditional sculpture still remains an important yardstick. more
Media Art
One of the most enduring changes around 1960 was the emancipation of the technical media from the field of applied art to become artistic media in their own right. This is no less true of photography than it is of video and film. more
Graphic Collection
The Graphic Collection encompasses some 3,000 drawings, watercolours, gouaches and collages, as well almost 10,000 prints. more
Photographic Collections
The spectrum of the Photographic Collections at Museum Ludwig ranges from the very beginnings of photography to the end of the 20th century. more
