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How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes

15. October 2022 to 
12. Febuary 2023

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Initiale B, 1920, woodcut, Brücke-Museum, © VG Bild-Kunst

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Painting Portrait of a woman

Max Kaus, Portrait Turu, 1911, Öl auf Leinwand, Brücke-Museum, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020

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Painting, waters at a lock, forest in the background

Erich Heckel, Die Mellingburger Alsterschleuse, 1913, Öl auf Leinwand, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019

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Painting, man looking to the right, his left forearm pointing downwards to the right

Erich Heckel, Roquairol, 1917, Tempera auf Leinwand, Brücke-Museum, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019

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Otto Mueller, Reclining Nude in the Dunes, ca. 1923, distemper on hessian, Brücke-Museum

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Painting, several women in black pants and white tops sitting at a café table

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Im Cafégarten, 1914, Öl auf Leinwand, Brücke-Museum, Public Domain

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What is a museum? What are its tasks and how does it work? The exhibition celebrates the 55th anniversary of the Brücke-Museum, which opened on 15 September 1967, and aims to provide a glimpse behind the scenes of museum operations. Many major works from the collection by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel will be on display. At the same time, the museum’s different tasks and sections will be introduced, along with the people who work here.

 

Arranged in thematic chapters, the exhibition will convey an impression of the different stages a work in the collection goes through after its initial acquisition, or what exactly a provenance researcher does. The conservation work will be exemplified using paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Erich Heckel, and the curatorial decision as to what should actually go on show moves into focus. All the Brücke-Museum staff members participate in this process.

 

We not only cast a glance back at the history of the museum, but also forward to its future: How can the museum, which is essentially an analog space, be supplemented by digitization? What shape should a contemporary approach to the colonial heritage and the related issues take? And how do contemporary artists actually view the museum? This and other questions will be addressed in the presentation of the collection. In the process, there will of course be plenty of art on display, including many masterpieces from the Brücke-Museum’s collection. In accompanying table discussions, museum staff invite visitors to discuss topics such as curating, researching, preserving and mediating. The presentation will be complemented by an artistic work by Christian Jankowski.

 

Exhibition room with several works

Exhibition view, How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes, Foto: Nick Ash.

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Exhibition room with a painting and an image of the back of the painting

Exhibition view, How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes, Foto: Nick Ash.

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Exhibition room with several works

Exhibition view, How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes, Foto: Nick Ash.

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Armchairs with tablets and headphones in the exhibition space, a row of art works in the background

Exhibition view, How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes, Foto: Nick Ash.

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Exhibition room with several works

Exhibition view, How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes, Foto: Nick Ash.

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Armchair with tablets and headphones from behind, a row of art works in the background

Exhibition view, How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes, Foto: Nick Ash.

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Exhibition room with several works

Exhibition view, How to Brücke-Museum: A Look behind the Scenes, Foto: Nick Ash.

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Artists

Programme

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Staff

Lisa Marei Schmidt, Curator
Elena Schroll, Co-Curator
Daniela Bystron, Curator of Outreach
Nadine Bauer, Isabel Fischer, Christiane Remm, Academic staff
Magdalena Syen, Fee Wüstenberg, Assistant curator
Nada Hussein, Intern