Times and spaces

In this exhibition the Von der Heydt Museum's unique collection, with its pro-nounced focus on the 19th century and classical modernism, is presented for the first time in many years in a permanent exhibition and in a new form. The newly conceived presentation brings together selected paintings and sculptures from the 17th century to the 1960s - many of which are our visitor’s firm favourites.
The sorting of the works in groups is special: under the title "Times and Spaces", they are arranged like a kind of visual travel guide that leads through the forma-tive spaces and periods of European art history of the last centuries, for example the Netherlands and Flanders, the art metropolises of Paris and Berlin or the in-conspicuous little town of Worpswede, which nevertheless provided significant impulses. The exhibition will therefore not so much build up a chronology in the classical sense, but above all it will show artistic networks. Works by Ludwig Richter, Gustave Courbet, Hans von Marées, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Dix, Hans Arp and many more will be on display.
With over 2,000 paintings, 500 sculptures, 800 photographs and 30,000 graphic works, the Von der Heydt Museum has one of the most important art collections in Germany. Its systematic development began in the early years of the 20th cen-tury and continues to this day. With the exhibition "Times and Spaces - Classics of the Collection", the museum invites visitors to rediscover its high-calibre and internationally renowned holdings through a precise selection. At the same time, it marks Wuppertal as a cultural centre of distinction in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Since October 2024, Anselm Kiefer's work "Anselm fuit hic" (2015–2023), which belongs to the artist's latest series, has been part of this exhibition. The spectacular new addition is on long-term loan from the Renate and Eberhard Robke Foundation, making it the first work by this internationally renowned German artist to be included in the Von der Heydt Museum's collection.

In the collection presentation "Times and Spaces", Kiefer's painting is positioned among landscape paintings from the 17th and 19th centuries, between artistic perspectives from the Netherlands and Germany. On the one hand, this placement highlights the tradition in which the monumental painting stands and how it continues that legacy. On the other hand, it invites viewers to reconsider this tradition and the history—or histories—connected to it.