History

The Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen was founded in 1829 at a time when Düsseldorf was not merely the home of the Prussian provincial parliament, but was also a city undergoing a political and cultural awakening by virtue of the burgeoning Düsseldorf School of Painting and its concomitant status as an academy town. The first director of the Kunstverein was the Rector of the Düsseldorf Academy, the painter Willhelm von Schadow, who established the Kunstverein in a lively exchange with artists, citizens and the government in Berlin. The Verein’s goal was to be the sponsoring of »contemporary art« as well as to support »artists and disciples of art in their endeavours and in general to promote wider participation in all things beautiful«. Until the move into a permanent exhibition space, the Kunstverein was situated in the Düsseldorf Castle, in which the Academy was also situated during the 19th Century. The first annual exhibitions were to take place there. Activities such as the auctioning of artworks amongst members (as a forerunner of the present day annual edition) and the sponsoring of artworks for the public display also took place here during the Kunstverein’s first phase. The first members were from Germany, predominantly from the Rheinland and Westphalian area and were the sponsors and collectors of the Düsseldorf School of Painting supported by the Kunstverein. At the turn of the 19th Century the Verein boasted a membership of almost 14,000 and in cultural terms was considered to be an extraordinarily robust organization.

The 20th Century

Apart form the Kunstmuseum founded in 1919, the Kunstverein was – up until the 1960s – the only institution in Düsseldorf actually exhibiting art. In view of this fact and because of the lack of an appropriate collection of old masters (the collection had travelled from Düsseldorf to Munich during the 18th Century), it was decided at the beginning of the 20th Century that the presentation of historical positions alongside contemporary art would be advantageous.

The most important examples of these historical exhibitions are Masterpieces from the 15th–20th Centuries with works from Raphael to van Gogh from the museum in São Paulo, the world photography exhibition and an overview of Aristide Maillol’s oeuvre. Of central significance for the Kunstverein’s later direction and slant were to be the influential exhibitions of contemporary artists, such as Peter Brüning (1956), Jackson Pollock (1961), Gerhard Richter (1971) or the early projects of the Gruppe 53 (1956). The DAAD exhibition in 1958 organised by the Kunstverein together with Hanna Höch, Max Ernst und Man Ray was not only an event of international importance, but was also to provide a decisive impulse for the Fluxus movement, itself initiated in Düsseldorf. During the past decades the Kunstverein has made a name for itself with international solo exhibitions and themed group shows, here too with the focus clearly upon the search for salient trends and tendencies. In keeping with this long tradition, the scope for experiment and the space for new discoveries of pioneering positions are extremely important to us.

Present Day

Since 1967, the Kunstverein has shared its building with the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, a structure designed by Konrad Beckmann and prominently situated on Grabbeplatz in the center of the city. With its cuboid form composed of prefabricated concrete elements, the building stands as a striking example of Brutalist architecture. Its deliberate dissonance with the surrounding urban fabric has long been part of its identity. When, in the late 1990s, proposals were put forward to demolish the building, a broad coalition of artists and Düsseldorf residents successfully advocated for its preservation. Subsequent renovation and modernization have restored the building’s original appearance while sharpening the functional clarity of its design.

The Kunstverein occupies a 360 square meter exhibition hall on the upper floor, complemented by a foyer overlooking Grabbeplatz. Its program is articulated through focused solo presentations and thematically conceived group exhibitions, each engaging with current artistic practices and their critical potential. Artist talks, lectures, guided tours, screenings, and publications extend these inquiries, opening the program to wider publics and framing it as a site for ongoing reflection and exchange.

Directors