MODERNE GALERIE Saarbrücken specializes in Installations -but has an impressive Permanent Collection
*This article compiled by Axel Ritenis in collaboration with Moderne Galerie Saarbrücken using their resources
The MODERNE GALERIE Saarbrücken is one of the leading museums in south-west Germany and is the leading museum institution in the Saarland. Characterized by its location near the border, its rich holdings from Impressionism to the present unfold in dialogue, particularly between French and German movements.On my recent visit to Saarbrucken I received a privileged viewing of the museum and its diverse collections together with the current modern installations. This Art Museum is well known for it its Modern contemporary Installations, but probably does not get enough recognition for its Permanent Exhibition,.comprising numerous rooms with assembled art collections that one wouldn’t have expected to find here.
Fabienne Verdier: Baum und Felsgestein auf den Wegen von Bibémus, Studie Nr.7, 2018 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022. Foto: Inès Dieleman
High-ranking areas of focus are the painting of the Berlin Secession, German Expressionism and the Art of the École de Paris and the Informel.
The museum houses the estate of the sculptor Alexander Archipenko,.. one of the great innovators of sculpture in the first half of the 20th century, and has extensive graphic and photographic collections, the latter going back directly to the founder of “subjective photography” in Saarbrücken, Otto Steinert.
Aristide Maillol: Venus ohne Arme, 1920 ©Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken
Architecture of Museum Building
The museum building is one of the pioneering museum buildings of the early Federal Republic. Designed by the St. Ingbert architect Hanns Schönecker and erected in three construction phases between 1965 and 1976, it now enjoys monument protection due to its high architectural-historical status.
Außenansicht Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie ©Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken, Foto: Tom Gundelwein
Digitization:
The digitized holdings of the Modern Gallery,.. including graphics and photography can be found here. Visitors and researchers can refine their research,.. by adding your search terms in the search bar. The gallery endeavours to facilitate a user friendly experience your explorations!
Franz Marc: Das blaue Pferdchen, 1912 ©Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken
With its extension, which opened in 2017 and was realized by Kuehn Malvezzi / Michael Riedel, the Moderne Gallery has taken a decisive step into the future. Since then, it has not only been able to show its extensive Permanent Collections but organizes regular imaginative and compelling artistic displays and modern installations,..compatible with their mission of being a Modern contemporary gallery.
Oskar Schlemmer: Blaue Frauengruppe, 1931 ©Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken
Permanent Exhibition/Collection comprising Diverse Modern Artists
As mentioned,the Moderne Galerie is home to a wide ranging collection treasures, such as Impressionists and Expressionists, productions from the School of Paris or more recent acquisitions never or rarely shown.
The Moderne Gallerie holds and displays a slightly amorphous collection of artworks, but there emerges a common thread with developed themes presenting a wealth of works by many notable artists in its Permanent Collection.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Badende im Raum, 1908 ©Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken
One of Saarland’s cultural highlights:
“The Saarland Museum’s Moderne Galerie covers European art from the late 1800s to the present, and is especially noteworthy for its works of German Impressionism (Slevogt, Corinth and Liebermann), French Impressionism (Monet, Sisley, Renoir and more) and expressionism (Kirchner, Marc and von Jawlensky). The Galerie focuses on contemporary art. A large and varied and very diverse collection including works by a lot of well-known (and lesser-known) artists like Max liebermnn, Pablo Picasso ,Camille Pissaro, Otto Steinert ,Gunther Gorg and the list goes on!”
Innensicht Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie ©Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken, Foto: Felix Krebs
Aside from the many celebrated artists mentioned above,.. the Permanent Collection also features artworks belonging to important painters or sculptors of the German art world.,..such s favorite painters and artists as Max Ernst and Giorgio de Chirico.
Other significant artist’s names that I saw through the galleries were Pablo Picasso, Franz Marc and the American sculptor Alexander Archipenko.
“Clearly with its expansion, the Moderne Gallery has taken a decisive step into the future. The Museum is now able to show its extensive collections to a much larger extent than before,and it is also more focussed on contemporary art.”
Current Temporary Exhibitions:
Katharina Grosse, ohne Titel 2021, 2021, Courtesy Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien © Katharina Grosse und VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2022. Foto: Jens Ziehe
Katharina Grosse: “Wolke in Form eines Schwertes”
Museum director Andrea Jahn has succeeded in bringing the internationally renowned painter Katharina Grosse to Saarbrücken.
Katharina Grosse (*1961 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is one of the trend-setting and pioneering artists of her generation. Visitors can expect a presentation of their latest canvas works, which unfold their visual power in the generously dimensioned extension of the Modern Gallery.
The works exhibited in Saarbrücken bring together Katharina Grosse’s very different working methods, which have recently been tried out in very different ways: branches, twigs and driftwood are worked into some canvases, which are then coated with spray paint, so that painting, natural materials and sculptural structures merge with one another.Other works are designed entirely for spatial effect in their color and their dimensions. The result is a site-specific painting installation, which at the same time makes the classic picture the subject.
Helga Griffiths: Identity Analysis, Installationsansicht, Curritiba /Brasilien), 2015 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022. Foto: Vinicius Ferreira
Helga Griffith: “Sensing the Unseen”
The latest discoveries in science, technology and art collide in Helgas Griffith’s interactive artworks. Griffiths (*1959 in Ehingen/Donau) has already had her work represented in numerous group and solo exhibitions worldwide, most recently at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai. With “Sensing the Unseen”, the Modern Gallery of the Saarland Museum is now showing works by the artist that abstractly link and contrast the human body with the environment around it and the inner processes of the earth.
Griffith’s works touch us on all sensory levels. Whoever enters her multimedia spatial installations finds himself in a total work of art in which the artist works with light and video images as well as with sound. The artist pays specific attention to the importance of scents, which play a special role at the interface between people and the environment.
In addition to older works, Helga Griffiths is presenting new works specifically related to the mining history of the Saarland, which the visitors can come into contact with themselves.
AKTUELLE AUSSTELLUNGEN
Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie:
:: Helga Griffiths – Sensing the Unseen, bis 14. August 2022
:: Katharina Grosse – Wolke in Form eines Schwertes, bis 4. September 2022
:: Elemente: Wasser, bis 1. Januar 2023
:: Museum unserer Wünsche:
:: Christina Kubisch – Das Glashaus, bis 9. Oktober 2022
:: David und Douglas Henderson – The Sea is a Big Green Lens, bis 9. Oktober 2022
Saarlandmuseum – Alte Sammlung:
:: Zu Tisch! – Die Kunst des guten Geschmacks, bis 16. Oktober 2022
Deutsches Zeitungsmuseum
:: Papier von A bis Z – Eine Mitmachausstellung, bis 3. September 2023
VORSCHAU
Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie:
:: Im Auge des Kosmos – Fabienne Verdier, 4. September 2022 bis 26. Februar 2023
Adress: Moderne Galerie
Bismarckstraße 11-19
66111 Saarbrücken
Phone: +49 681 9964 0
Mail: info(at)kulturbesitz.de
Opening hours: monday closed, tuesday, thursday-sunday 10 am – 6 pm, wednesday 10 am -8 pm
