Museum Folkwang

Das Museum Folkwang in Essen has a long tradition and is one of the most renowned art museums in Germany. It is located only 2.4 km from the Hotel an der Gruga.

Beginning with the Museum Folkwang has everything in Hagen, not in Essen. The 24-year-old banker’s son Karl Ernst Osthaus inherited a lot of money from his grandparents and in 1898 he developed the idea of a separate art museum for the Westphalian industrial city of Hagen. In 1902 the Folkwang Museum in Hagen was opened and quickly developed into an important and groundbreaking museum of modern art in Germany. It was the first public collection to show works by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and Vincent van Gogh. After the death of the founder Osthaus in 1921, the collection was acquired by the Folkwang-Museumsverein for the city of Essen in 1922, and in 1926 the construction of a new building on Bismarckstraße was begun, which was opened three years later.

Even then a museum with a worldwide reputation, the Museum Folkwang became the target of National Socialist smear campaigns during the Third Reich. More than 1,400 exhibits were branded as “degenerate”, confiscated and sold all over the world. The bombs of the Second World War did the rest and reduced the Museum Folkwang to rubble and ashes. After the end of the war, work began to rebuild the collection through buy-backs and new acquisitions. The Museum Folkwang was reopened in 1960 and in 2010 received a spectacular extension designed by star architect David Chipperfield, which continues to ensure a steady stream of visitors. For the Capital of Culture year RUHR.2010, the spectacular new building by architect David Chipperfield replaced the wing of the Ruhrlandmuseum. Today, the Museum Folkwang impresses with this successful fusion of the old and new wings, with a large daylight hall, a bright foyer and a classical design language. The Folkwang has collections of 19th century painting and sculpture, classical modernism, art after 1945 and photography. Since 2010, the collection has also included the Deutsches Plakat Museum with 350,000 exhibits. The works of well-known poster designers are regularly shown. With 1,400 square meters, the large exhibition hall is the largest of its kind in Germany. Admission to the permanent collection is free. The Folkwang Museum is located only 2.4 km from the Hotel an der Gruga and is a must for every meal!

A visit can be wonderfully integrated into a city tour or you can take the subway line 11 to the Saalbau stop. The underground station is 50 m from the Hotel an der Gruga. Please feel free to contact us about current exhibitions!