After a 6-year break due to renovations and corona, the Museum of the City of Mülheim is open again to the public and the museum audience.
The exhibition “In the Heart Wild – Bridge, Bauhaus, Blue Rider” is on the ground floor, which is also where a museum visit/tour should begin.
Here, for the first time, the works of classical modernism from the municipal collection enter into a direct dialogue with the works of the Ziegler Collection in the exhibition Brücke – Bauhaus – Blauer Reiter in order to shed light on art at the beginning of the 20th century in different motif-related facets.
The focus is on the artists from the Brücke, Bauhaus and Blauer Reiter area, who were influential in the development of modern painting in Germany. In a journey through the first five decades of the 20th century, the dynamics with which the currents of that time responded to each other are presented and the simultaneity of the different is made visible through the thematic hanging – animals, flowers, portraits, children, landscapes, figures . With 150 paintings, watercolors and graphics, the exhibition illuminates the museum’s unique artistic selling point,” as the museum reports on its global website.
Art historians and art historians (like the authors of this text) do not necessarily understand what the museum’s alleged unique selling point is. But that doesn’t matter. For example, if you want to get to know Emil Nolde and his work, you should definitely take a look at these two rooms.
Then it goes up to the 1st floor – here you can see the second part of the collection presentation, the special exhibition “Wild at Heart – Collection +”.
“COLLECTION + continues the examination of the collection from 1945 with thematic rooms and at the same time opens the museum for collaborations with artists and (private) collections. Fantastic figurations lead to imaginary landscapes, graphic masterpieces of American Pop Art look towards new ones Horizons, on consumer worlds, mass media and current events. Far-reaching outgrowths and ramifications spread from room to room, create points of light, form (atmosphere) spheres and question language images and communication models. Media diversity is about upheavals, turning points, social coexistence, questions about the future and change of perspective. The graphics collection juxtaposes original hand drawings, rare, valuable sheets from well-known cycles of socially critical graphics and a sketchbook by Heinrich Zille with the works of Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen,” says the art museum in Mülheim’s city center in the world network.
Modern, contemporary art can be seen here: classic graphics (some with current references, for example when it comes to soldiers and war) as well as contemporary painting and sculpture are well curated and classically presented here. Beyond the daily news, works of art worth seeing are presented here.
The Beuys section on the second floor is negligible, at least for my personal taste. I lack emotional access to the exhibition part – it was not clear to me whether Beuys’s art or his political commitment was in the foreground.
The museum offers an exhibition area of 1,200 square meters. The museum is one of the oldest art museums in the Ruhr area – it was founded in 1909. The listed building (the Old Post Office, in which the museum is now housed) dates from the Wilhelmine period and was built on the Schollenfeld in 1885/1886. The city library is in the immediate vicinity.
Definitely worth a visit. The “In the Wild Heart” exhibition shows a good overview of the art of the 20th century, which is well worth seeing.
