The Cologne museum is dedicated entirely to modern art. The Pop Art collection and the collection of German Expressionism are particularly outstanding. The collector Josef Haubrich created the basis for today's museum with his donation to the city of Cologne.
The Museum Ludwig in Cologne is one of the most important art museums in Germany. It displays works of art from classical modernism to contemporary art production on around 8000 square meters. Its collection of American Pop Art, which is the largest and most important collection of its kind outside the USA, is particularly outstanding. It includes works by Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Indiana.
In addition, the Museum Ludwig, which is located directly between Cologne Cathedral and the Rhine, has one of the world's most extensive collections of Russian avant-garde art from the 1920s and an important collection of works by Pablo Picasso. Since 2008, the institution has also owned an extensive collection of editions by Sigmar Polke.
The museum acquires current works on an ongoing basis
The collection of German Expressionism is primarily characterized by the donation of the politician and lawyer Josef Haubrich, who bequeathed his collection of paintings to the city of Cologne in 1964. With his collected works of art, he created the basis for today's museum. The foundation stone was laid by the collector couple Irene Monheim and Peter Ludwig in 1976 with a further 350 works of modern art.
The museum is constantly acquiring new works by renowned artists, most of the new acquisitions are only a few months old. In addition to the permanent exhibitions, important exhibitions on important art-historical themes and artists are shown regularly. The collection on the history of photography with around 70,000 exhibits is also worth a look. Artistic pictures, albums, portfolios and materials on the cultural history of the medium await.
If you want to fill in the gaps in your knowledge of other cultural fields, you can then visit the Museum Kolumba, the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum or the Museum of Applied Arts. All museums are within walking distance.
