Presse

Olesja Knodel

Rechnungswesen

Phone +49 202/563-4682 olesja.knodel@stadt.wuppertal.de

Guido Jendritzko for his 100th birthday
Guido Jendritzko, aus der vierteiligen Fotoarbeit Distribution XXXI, 1988 Collage Vintage-Print 81 x 61 cm Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal © Rechtsnachfolger:in

Dieter Krieg-Preis: Jaana Caspary
Jaana Caspary, double box, 2023 Bronze 32 x 25 x 25 cm Courtesy Jaana Caspary, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026

Markus Karstiess
Friendship request No. 3
Markus Karstieß, Wayfarers (surf), 2024 Courtesy der Künstler © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, Foto: Markus Karstieß

Museum A to Z.
From the Beginning to the Future
Emmy Klinker, Wuppertal, um 1928 Öl auf Leinwand 100 x 80 cm Kunst- und Museumsverein im Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal © Rechtsnachfolger

Times and spaces
Classics of the collection. Ruisdael to Giacometti
Paul Gauguin, Stillleben mit exotischen Vögeln, um 1902 Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal

Parking

Parking garages in the surrounding area

Parking garageOpening Hours 
Fleming’s ExpressMon to SunOpen 24 hours
 Tue to Sun07:30 a.m. – 01:30 p.m.
KarlsplatzMon to Sun06:00 a.m. – 23:00 p.m.
CityArkadenMon to Sat07:30 a.m. – 20:30 p.m.
 Sun12:00 a.m. – 18:00 p.m.
NeumarktMon to Sat06:30 a.m. – 23:30 p.m.
 Sou08:30 a.m. – 20:30 p.m.
St Josef / BergstraßeMon to Sun07:00 a.m. – 23:00 p.m.
Ohligsmühle / VapianoMon to Sun06:00 a.m. – 23:00 p.m.
Galeria Kaufhof NeumarkstraßeMon to Fri09:30 a.m. – 20:30 p.m.
 Sat09:30 a.m. – 19:00 p.m.
 Sunclosed
Hofaue CityMon to Sat06:00 a.m. – 22:00 p.m.
 SunGeschlossen
TeijinMon to SunOpen 24 hours
Kleine KlotzbahnMon to SunOpen 24 hours
HautpbahnhofMon to SunOpen 24 hours

Parking facilities for the severely disabled

  • In the Parking Garage City-Arkaden you can find sufficient parking spaces for the severely disabled are available.
  • Also in the Parking Garage Rathhaus-Galerie
  • There are 2 parking places on Wall. Due to the traffic regulations as a pedestrian zone, these can only be approached within the loading times: in the morning until 11 a.m. and in the evening after 6 p.m.
  • Here you can find a list with the designated parking spaces in the city center (pdf-Download).
  • Here  you can find a list for Wuppertal.

Coaches

To get on and off the bus, please use the stop in Südstraße

Parking spaces

  • School Bus stop Stadthalle (Bahnhofstraße), Mon to Fri after 2 p.m., Sat, Sun and holidays. You can also park here during school holidays

  • Böttinger Weg (at the zoo)

PLEASE OBSERVE OUR HOUSE RULES

VON dER HEYDT MUSEUM

We are delighted to welcome you to the Von der Heydt Museum and hope you enjoy your visit. The house rules are binding for both visitors and all employees of the Von der Heydt Museum. By entering the museum building, you agree to comply with our house rules and all other regulations designed to maintain operational safety.

 

Admission and guided tours

  • An admission fee is charged for visiting the Von der Heydt Museum.
  • Please refer to the information board at the ticket office or our website for the
    respective admission and tour fees, or ask our ticket office staff.
  • Admission to our collection is free on the first Thursday of the month from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
  • You will receive paper wristbands at the ticket office as proof of admission. These must
    be worn on the wrist and are attached at your own risk; no liability is accepted.
    Admission to the exhibition rooms will not be granted without a wristband.
  • If you have booked a guided tour, please arrive at the meeting point in good time. Tours
    must start on time and unfortunately cannot be extended.

Cloakroom

  • The cloakroom is supervised and free of charge for our visitors.
  • Bags and backpacks, regardless of their size, walking sticks, umbrellas, jackets, and
    coats must be left at the cloakroom or stored in one of the lockers.
  • Bags that must be carried for health reasons will be checked by the supervisory
    staff and marked with a ribbon.
  • Due to space limitations, suitcases can only be stored for a limited time and only in
    conjunction with an admission wristband for the duration of the museum visit.

Exhibition

  • Please maintain a minimum distance of 50 cm from the artwork. Touching exhibits is
    not permitted.
  • In the event of damage to exhibits, the supervisory staff is authorized to record the
    personal details of the person responsible.
  • Legal guardians and accompanying persons of children’s and youth groups are
    responsible for their appropriate behavior. Running, romping around, and throwing
    toys is not permitted.
  • No liquids or food may be brought into or consumed in the exhibition rooms. Please
    use the ground floor for feeding babies and small children.
  • Smoking is prohibited throughout the building.
  • Portable folding seats are available free of charge. You will find them on the ground
    floor. Please return the stools there at the end of your visit.

Photography and cell phone use

  • Photography and filming are generally permitted in the museum’s own collection, but
    only for private purposes and without flash. Commercial use of the image material is
    prohibited. The copyrights to the artworks belong to the respective artist or their legal
    successors. As a rule, these are enforced against third parties by VG Bild/Kunst Bonn.
    Regardless of this, any use beyond private use also requires the express permission of
    the Von der Heydt Museum. Telephone inquiries: 0202/563-2471.
  • Selfie sticks or tripods are not permitted.
  • Photography permits for special exhibitions are granted on a case-by-case basis.
  • The museum rooms may not be used as a photo location, e.g., for wedding photos or
    similar.
  • Out of consideration for other visitors: Please switch your phone to silent
    mode and only make calls in the entrance area, not in the exhibition.

General

  • The museum area is monitored by video surveillance for security reasons.
  • During special exhibitions, there may be waiting times to enter the exhibition rooms
    when visitor numbers are high (this does not apply to booked guided tours).
  • For safety reasons, stairways, escape routes, and passageways must be kept clear.
  • In the event of a theft alarm, management is authorized to close all exits and carry
    out identity checks.

The von der Heydt Museum is wheelchair accessible.

  • Visitors with walking disabilities should report to the wheelchair door to the left of the
    main entrance. Elevators and two wheelchairs are available for loan in the building.
    Advance registration for wheelchair rental is recommended to ensure that a wheelchair
    is available at the desired time. Please make reservations by calling 0202/ 563-6231. The
    disabled toilet is located on the first floor.
  • Strollers are of course permitted in the exhibition. Access with strollers is also possible
    via the wheelchair entrance.

Via car

From highway A 46, take the exit W-Katernberg or W-Elberfeld.
Follow the parking guidance system in the direction of Zentrum Hofaue.

Here you can find an overview of the parking options

Today:
Closed
11:00 –18:00
11:00 – 18:00
11:00 – 20:00
11:00 – 18:00
11:00 – 18:00
11:00 – 18:00
Ticket Shop
Exhibitions

Via Public Transport

suspension monorail: Until Station Hauptbahnhof/Döppersberg; Walk from there in 3 minutes to Von der Heydt-Museum. Please follow the signs.

Bus lines: CE 65, 623, 643, 628, SB 69, 622, 603, 635, 620 until Wall/Museum CE65, 623, SB 69, 603, 635, 620, 612, 647 until Morianstraße

Train: Wuppertal Maint Train Station, Walk from there in 5 minutes to Von der Heydt-Museum. Please follow the signs.

timetable DB:  Click here

 

1827-1842

The Elberfeld town hall was built by Schinkel’s student Johann Peter Cremer from Aachen in place of a dilapidated Roman Catholic church. Originally, there was a medieval castle here, as evidenced by the surrounding street names such as Burgstraße, Wall and Turmhof. It was destroyed in the great fire of 1537 and demolished in 1640. 

1866

Foundation of the Barmer Kunstverein with headquarters in the rooms of the “Concordia” society in Barmen. 

1892

a museum association was constituted in Elberfeld, which made public appeals in the local newspaper for financial contributions and art donations. 

1895

At the suggestion of the Elberfeld banker August Freiherr von der Heydt (1851-1929), the Elberfelder Museumsverein rented the second floor at Schwanenstraße 33 for exhibition purposes. 

1900

Inauguration of the “Hall of Fame” in honor of Emperor Wilhelm I and Emperor Frederick III on today’s Geschwister-Scholl-Platz. Built according to plans by Erdmann Hartig, head of the Barmen School of Arts and Crafts. The new building presented itself to the city of Barmen with an entrance front defined by a portico of columns, behind which opened a hall with more columns and a magnificent dome. The interior had several rooms, including its own municipal library and, on the upper floor, the Kunstverein’s art gallery. 

1902

after a new town hall was built at Elberfelder Markt, the former town hall at Turmhof was set up as a museum. On the second floor, an antique plaster cast collection, donated by Julius Schmits, (given to the schools in the early 1930s; now lost) and arts and crafts were presented in five side-lit rooms. The first director of the house was Dr. Friedrich Fries, formerly a lecturer at the Städtisches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt. 

1905-1914

August von der Heydt and his brother-in-law Julius Schmits donate ten paintings by Hans von Marées. In 1907, a significant donation from Eduard Springmann expanded the copperplate engraving cabinet to include sculptures, a coin collection, arts and crafts, local history department, a library and a photo collection. The Hans Heinrich Freimuth Foundation contributed capital interest and a copperplate engraving collection of prints by Jacques Callot and William Hogarth to the museum. 

1907

Richart Reiche (1876-1943), an art historian from Barmen, became artistic director of the Kunsthalle Barmen. In 1910, modern art was introduced to the Barmen public for the first time with the exhibition of the “Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM)”. The Kunsthalle was a center of expressionist art until the First World War. Exhibitions with works by Wassili Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Alexej Jawlensky, among others. 

1910

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the city of Elberfeld, Emmy Weyerbusch donated her ceramic collection to the museum, 40 pieces of the finest Copenhagen porcelain were donated by Adolf Simons and 23 paintings were added to the museum. 

1912

Museum director Friedrich Fries, with the support of numerous benefactors and sponsors, acquired works of Dutch painting from the 15th and 17th centuries, examples of French painting and landscapes by Henri Rousseau, Charles-François Daubigny, Gustave Courbet, Paul Cézanne and Claude Monet were purchased. To show the development of German painting in the 19th century was close to Friedrich Fries’ heart. In 1910, the exhibition of the “Neue Künstlervereinigung München” was also shown in the Elberfelder Museum after a first stop in the Barmer Kunsthalle. In 1911, through the mediation of August von der Heydt, the Elberfelder Museumsverein acquired Pablo Picasso’s painting “Acrobat and Young Harlequin” (1905) in Paris, which was donated to the Elberfeld Municipal Museum (confiscated by the Nazis in 1937 as “degenerate art”). It is the first work of Picasso in a museum. 

1914-1918

the museum bore the name “Kaiser Wilhelm Museum”. In a cabinet, modern loans from the Von der Heydt family were constantly on display at the time. 

1923

the museum received a modest expansion by renting the top floor of the corner building Burgstraße/Schwanenstraße. 

1929

(August 31), Elberfeld and Barmen merged to form the city of Wuppertal. The first museum director, Dr. Friedrich Fries, retired in 1929 after 27 years in office. Dr. Victor Dirksen was appointed as the new museum director in 1929 (in office until 1952). The artistic director of the Barmer Kunstverein, which had existed since 1866, Dr. Richart Reiche, resigned in 1931. Dr. Dirksen was now the director of both, the Elberfeld Municipal Museum and the Hall of Fame in Barmen. The museum was renamed the Städtisches Museum Wuppertal. After August von der Heydt died in 1929, his widow, Selma von der Heydt, donated paintings by Paul Gauguin, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Emil Nolde, Heinrich Nauen, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Max Pechstein to the museum in his memory. 

 

The city of Wuppertal now had two museums under one management: the Kunsthalle Barmen with its progressive exhibition policy and the Städtisches Museum in Elberfeld with its collection of old and new art. A new era dawned. The collection of antique plaster casts was handed over to the schools. 

1930

Museum director Friedrich Fries, with the support of numerous benefactors and sponsors, acquired works of Dutch painting from the 15th and 17th centuries, examples of French painting and landscapes by Henri Rousseau, Charles-François Daubigny, Gustave Courbet, Paul Cézanne and Claude Monet were purchased. To show the development of German painting in the 19th century was close to Friedrich Fries’ heart. In 1910, the exhibition of the “Neue Künstlervereinigung München” was also shown in the Elberfelder Museum after a first stop in the Barmer Kunsthalle. In 1911, through the mediation of August von der Heydt, the Elberfelder Museumsverein acquired Pablo Picasso’s painting “Acrobat and Young Harlequin” (1905) in Paris, which was donated to the Elberfeld Municipal Museum (confiscated by the Nazis in 1937 as “degenerate art”). It is the first work of Picasso in a museum. 

1937-1938

In the course of the National Socialist “Degenerate Art” campaign, many works of modern art were seized from the Kunstverein. 

1937-1938

During actions against so-called “degenerate art” in 1937 and 1938, 56 works of modern painting (including Lyonel Feininger’s painting “Schären-Kreuzer” and Pablo Picasso’s “Akrobat und junger Harlekin“) were confiscated in Elberfeld, and 83 works of graphic art were confiscated in Barmen. Many works owned by the Barmer Kunstverein were returned to their donors, as were the loans from the von der Heydt family, in order to protect them from the Nazis. 

1937

The banker Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (1882-1964), son of August and Selma von der Heydt, since 1926 resident on Monte Verità near Ascona, left an important collection of Indonesian textiles to the museum. Parts of it had already been shown in 1905 in an exhibition of the Elberfeld Municipal Museum. 

1943

parts of the museum collection were moved in several transports from Elberfeld to the Ehrenbreitstein fortress. In May 1943, the Barmen Hall of Fame burned down and with it valuable remaining stocks in the basement depot. During the bombing raid on Elberfeld on June 25, 1943, the museum was severely damaged, the second floor completely destroyed. Only the outer walls of the corner Wall/Turmhof remained. 

 

The art collection stored in the house of the Von der Heydt family on Kerstenplatz burned. The explosion of a fuel barrel destroyed the entire contents of a depot in Cologne-Mülheim and with it the part of the museum’s ceramic collection stored there. 

1943

Destruction of the “Hall of Fame” by a bombing raid. Many works fall victim to the flames. Paintings that remained intact went to the Barmer Kunstverein and the Elberfelder Museumsverein. 

1945

exhibitions and lectures were held again in the museum already in December. Through the initiative of the businessmen, the first floor was restored. On September 5, 1950, repaired exhibition halls on the upper floor were reopened. Until 1953, exhibitions of the museum were also held in the “Studio for New Art” in the house of the architect Heinz Rasch at Döppersberg 24. The spirit of optimism after the war led to the merger of the two art associations – the Barmer Kunstverein and the Elberfelder Museumsverein – to form the Kunst- und Museumsverein Wuppertal in 1946. As successor to Dr. Viktor Dirksen, Dr. Harald Seiler became the new museum director in 1952 (until 1962). 

1950

First exhibitions in the Barmer Kunsthalle. In mid-1953, establishment of a “Studio for New Art” in the Ruhmeshalle, which was closed in 1955 due to pending renovation work. 

 

1952

erste Schenkungen von Eduard von der Heydt an das Museum, darunter zahlreiche Niederländer, überwiegend jedoch Gemälde und Skulpturen des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts. Aus Dankbarkeit gegenüber seinen großen Stiftern August und Eduard von der Heydt wurde das Museum 1961 in „Von der Heydt-Museum“ umbenannt.

1958

Completion of the reconstruction of the Hall of Fame in a modified form. The rooms were opened with the exhibition “Modern Art in Wuppertal Private Ownership”. Numerous temporary exhibitions of the museum were held in Barmen from then on. 

1962

Dr. Günter Aust became museum director (until 1985), succeeding Dr. Harald Seiler. 

1985

Dr. Sabine Fehlemann took over as museum director (until 2006). After 20 years of unsuccessful thoughts of remodeling and rebuilding, the council decided in June 1985 on a generous remodeling solution for the museum at its old location. The project was carried out by the Cologne architects Peter Busmann and Dr. Godfrid Haberer. By building over the inner courtyard, the museum gained additional usable space. During the conversion period, parts of the collection went on a major world tour. 

1985

The former “Hall of Fame”, now known as the “House of Youth”, was listed as a historical monument. 

1990

On March 25, official reopening of the museum in the presence of Bundestag President Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth and Minister President Dr. h.c. Johannes Rau. 

2007

Once again, renovation measures became necessary: the ventilation system and fire protection were brought up to the latest standards, an energy renovation was implemented, an annex that housed the city library was removed, and all rooms in the Kunsthalle received new luminous ceilings. 

2011

After completion of the renovation work, the rooms, now under the name Von der Heydt Kunsthalle, were reopened by Dr. Gerhard Finckh. 

2013

The cooperation agreement between the non-profit Von der Heydt-Museum gGmbH and the city was sealed. Only in this way is it possible for the city to maintain and expand the museum despite the tight budget situation. The respective acting museum director is the managing director of the gGmbH. 

2006

Dr. Gerhard Finckh takes office (until 2019). Large exhibitions on French Impressionism were realized, the supraregional reputation of the museum was expanded. 

2020

Dr. Roland Mönig takes office as museum director. 

2020

The rooms of the Kunsthalle, which had served as a dependency of the Von der Heydt Museum since the post-war period, were transferred to the responsibility of the city of Wuppertal. However, the Kunst- und Museumsverein retains the right to realize exhibitions there.