The Ludwig Gallery at Oberhausen Castle is a member of the Ruhr Art Museums . The 21 art museums of the Ruhr region have joined together to form the Ruhr Art Museums network. The majority of the museums focus on 20th-century and contemporary art, but some also have significant collections of 19th-century art, as well as ancient and non-European art.
From Duisburg to Hamm, from Hagen to Marl, a connected network of high-caliber collections stretches across 15 cities, housed in industrial heritage buildings, castles, outstanding architecture from the post-war decades and spectacular new buildings. A visit to the museums is also a representative foray into the architectural culture of the Ruhr region.
The cooperation between the RuhrKunstMuseen impressively illustrates the multifaceted collections of modern and contemporary art that the Ruhr museum landscape has to offer. Through joint communication, exhibition activities and educational work, visitors and residents have been able to experience and discover the diversity of the museum offerings of the Ruhr cultural metropolis since the beginning of 2010.
To kick off their cooperation, the networking of the different institutions was successfully demonstrated in the year of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 with the joint art education program "Collection Tours"; at the same time, the museums presented the exhibition series "Mapping the Region".
With the merger of large and small institutions with national and international appeal, the RuhrKunstMuseen will, after their successful launch, not only sustainably strengthen cultural education and communication and develop exhibitions that use art to reflect the future of Europe's third-largest metropolitan area, the Ruhr region, but above all also raise awareness of their collections in the long term.
The first joint catalogue was published in 2010 under the title "RuhrKunstMuseen. Die Sammlung". It reflects the overall idea of the network to make the diverse art landscape with its unique collection of modern art visible. An introductory essay by Georg Imdahl on the "Images of the Ruhr Area" is followed by a 150-page colour illustration section with the museums' masterpieces. This foray through art history up to the present is followed by self-portrayals of the individual museums with photographs of the exhibition rooms and architecture. The highlights of the collection include works by Liebermann, Renoir, Matisse, Lehmbruck, Marc, Macke, Kirchner as well as Albers, Richter, Stella, Schumacher, Höfer and Turrell. The publication, which is available in the 20 museums and in bookstores, is in German with an English summary.
A free information brochure available in all RuhrKunstMuseen provides a compact overview of the Ruhr museum landscape, suggestions for museum tours and practical information for visiting the museum.
The following museums are involved:
Bochum Art Museum, Situation Kunst, Bochum; Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop; Museum Ostwall, Dortmund ; MKM Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg ; Museum DKM | DKM Foundation, Duisburg; Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum Foundation, Duisburg; Folkwang Museum, Essen; Gelsenkirchen Art Museum; Emil Schumacher Museum, Hagen; Osthaus Museum Hagen ; Gustav Lübcke Museum, Hamm; Emschertal Museum, Herne ; Flottmann Halls, Herne; S Sculpture Museum Glaskasten, Marl; Art Museum in the Old Post Office, Mülheim ; Ludwig Gallery, Oberhausen Castle ; Recklinghausen Art Gallery; Center for International Light Art, Unna; Märkisches Museum, Witten; Museum Haus Opherdicke, Unna
Further information can be found at:
RuhrKunstus – An educational project of the RuhrKunstMuseen
Supported by the RWE Foundation
term 2024 – 2026
RuhrKuns tbewegt is an outreach project of the 21 Ruhr art museums, funded by the RWE Foundation.
With "RuhrKunst bewegt " (RuhrArt Moves), the RuhrArt Museums network is once again developing an educational program for children and young people growing up in financial poverty and whose social participation is hampered by disadvantaged living conditions. Participants will experience the museum as a new place of discovery and expand their skills through creative forms of expression. Approaches and formats of museum education and outreach are being expanded in an interdisciplinary and cross-genre way: elements from theater, dance, and music complement museum offerings to provide children and young people with a variety of engaging ways to access art and culture, as well as fostering self-efficacy and the independent acquisition of learning content and working methods.
Over three school semesters, children and young people of different age groups and school types can take part in several consecutive workshops in order to find their own approach to art.
