Stairwell by Busmann and Haberer, Ludwig museum. Photo Kaldenbach 2017.
Museum Ludwig, Cologne (Koeln), Germany
A digital Zoom visit with your private art historian, our plan B in Covid 19 / Corona times. I will show you my image bank of paintings inside. And give you a high quality tour. In Corona times I have my digital files ready for you: HUGE list of museums for digital visits via my photo files + Zoom.
In better times, after Corona re-opening: You can hire me and I will fly or train in to be your own outstanding private “Professore”. At your cost, I will fly in especially for you and I will guide you after spending a hotel night. And then a very memorable museum visit or two. Please book a time slot ticket for yourself and for the guide. New: Private Audio system available.
The Ludwig Museum was donated in 1976 by Peter and Irene Ludwig who gave the city of Cologne a fine collection of 350 works. The city council decided to combine this fine gift with an earlier one, that of Josef Haubrich, initially housed in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, and to present both in a new modern building.
It became an exciting building by architects Peter Busmann and Godfrid Haberer, finished in 1986. The white walls soon needed restoration because the white plaster walls started flaking in big patches. The stairwell (photo) is most interesting as seen from floor 1.
The collector was a larger than life man, fond of academic titles, real and honorary: Art historian / Historian Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Peter Ludwig became wealthy as king of several chocolate factories, with his extensive art collections now presented in 19 museums worldwide. When the Cologne museum opened he insisted on having an XXL office with a fine view for himself within this building, which he used sparingly for some 10 years when he suddenly died, aged 71. Bizarrely, he chose tainted nazi era sculptor Arno Breker to make his larger than life portrait bust
The Museum Ludwig in Cologne, situated in back of the Dom / Cathedral, and it now houses:
The outstanding Haubrich collection of German expressionism, donated 1946.
The Russian Avant-garde of the 1920s with works by Marc Chagall, Kazimir Malevich and
from the same period, The Bridge group with, among others, Heckel, Kirchner, Schmitt-Rotluff.
Very exciting is the Popart collection from the United States, with names like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann.
Pablo Picasso’s third largest collection in the world, with no less than 900 different works by this famous Spanish artist. It may be the largest collection but alas not the best collection in the world.
Finally: The Agfa-Photo-Historama, a fine collection of historical photography.
This well-funded museum is famous for excellent, large temporary exhibitions, presenting mostly post-1945 artists.
Please note: I live in Amsterdam, Holland and will specially fly in just for you. This means you hire your own private Professore. For a serious fee.
Tours by professional Art History scholar with excellent teaching skills. Specialist in Fine art and Design, Architecture and History. VIP entry.
Drs Kees Kaldenbach: „…he is wildly overqualified to be a guide . That is his secret… Trust me on this.” Gabe. Statement made February, 2017.
Sonia Delauney, French.
Robert Delauney, French.
Max Beckmann, responding to the shocks of World War 1 with a gritty mode of applying paint.
Morris Louis, detail of an XXX size painting in the colour field group, immersing the viewers angle of view.
Max Ernst, self portrait, part of a Friends group painting.
Lyonel Feininger, part of the Bauhaus group, and later active in the USA.
Franz Marc, from the Blue Rider group in Munich.
Mark Rothko, the depressed, poetic and very serious Colour Field painter from NYC. Again immersive as viewing experience.
Manifesto by The Bridge group, a new youthful generation emerging.
Two nudes, by Mueller, 1919.
Clyfford Still, who presents the viewer hard-to-grasp visual poetry.
Oskar Schlemmer, detail of a painting. Part of the Bauhaus group shut down by the Nazis.