The Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS,

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

of Modern and Contemporary Art) is an art museum in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France, which was founded in 1973 and opened in its own building in November 1998. One of the largest of its kind in France, the museum houses extensive collections of paintings, sculpture, graphic arts, multimedia and design from the period between 1870 (

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

) and today, as well as a wide range of pieces in its photographic library. It owns a total of 18,000 works. Numerous exhibitions are organized annually, showing either the works of a particular artist or a retrospective of an artistic genre. The art library of the municipal museums (''Bibliothèque d'art des musées municipaux''), the art book shop of the municipal museums (''Librairie d'art des musées municipaux'') and a multi-purpose auditorium for conferences, films and concerts are also found in the same building. The spacious roof terrace accommodates a museum cafe.

Building

The municipal collection of modern and contemporary art of the city of Strasbourg has been constantly enlarged and enriched since 1871 and the founding of the ''Reichsland'' Alsace-Lorraine. There had already been plans to erect an independent museum since the 1960s. The building was constructed on the left bank of the river

Ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

from 1995 until 1998. It was designed by the Parisian architect Adrien Fainsilber, who had already designed the

Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie The Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie ("City of Science and Industry", abbreviated la CSI) or simply CSI is the biggest science museum in Europe. Located in the Parc de la Villette in Paris, France, it is one of the three dozen French Cultur ...

in the French capital. The exhibition and usable floor space open out on both sides of a central glass covered walk, which is conceived in cathedral-like dimensions, with an interior length of 104 meters and an interior height of 22 meters. A horse sculpture (4 meters high), ''Hortus conclusus'', by the Italian artist

Mimmo Paladino Mimmo Paladino (born Paduli, 18 December 1948) is an Italian sculptor, painter and printmaker. He is a leading name in the Transvanguardia artistic movement and one of the many European artists to revive Expressionism in the 1980s. Biography ...

is placed on the museum's roof. The building is located at the edge of the old quarter of the city ( Petite France), in front of the administrative center of the department (

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel De ...

) and near the architecturally important baroque weir

Barrage Vauban The ''Barrage Vauban'', or Vauban Dam, is a bridge, weir and defensive work erected in the 17th century on the River Ill in the city of Strasbourg in France. At that time, it was known as the Great Lock (''grande écluse''), although it does not ...

and the medieval tower bridge Ponts couverts. It is also served by its own tramway stop on the

Strasbourg tramway The Strasbourg tramway (french: Tramway de Strasbourg, german: Straßenbahn Straßburg; gsw-FR, D'Strossabàhn Strossburi(g)), run by the CTS, is a network of six tramlines, A, B, C, D, E and F that operate in the cities of Strasbourg in Alsace, ...

("Musée d'Art moderne", line B).

Collections

As of 28 March 2022, the museum's collections comprised 17,994 works in total, among which 1,799 paintings, 5,135 drawings, 905 sculptures, 4,218 prints and 3,661 photographs. Among famous artists, it comprises 427 works by

Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engraving ...

, 60 works by

Jean Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter, and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born in Straßburg (now Stras ...

, 38 works by

Victor Brauner Victor Brauner (, also spelled Viktor Brauner; 15 June 1903 – 12 March 1966) was a Romanian painter and sculptor of the surrealist movement. Early life He was born in Piatra Neamț, Romania, the son of a Jewish timber manufacturer who subseque ...

, 29 works by

Sophie Taeuber-Arp Sophie Henriette Gertrud Taeuber-Arp (; 19 January 1889 – 13 January 1943) was a Swiss artist, painter, sculptor, textile designer, furniture and interior designer, architect, and dancer. Born in 1889 in Davos, and raised in Trogen, Switzerla ...

, 22 by Vassily Kandinsky, 10 by César Domela, 7 by

Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (, 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch artist, who practiced painting, writing, poetry and architecture. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He was married to artist, pianist and choreographer Nell ...

and several by

Max Klinger Max Klinger (18 February 1857 – 5 July 1920) was a German artist who produced significant work in painting, sculpture, prints and graphics, as well as writing a treatise articulating his ideas on art and the role of graphic arts and printmak ...

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born as Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''T ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...

František Kupka František Kupka (23 September 1871 – 24 June 1957), also known as ''Frank Kupka'' or ''François Kupka,'' was a Czech painter and graphic artist. He was a pioneer and co-founder of the early phases of the abstract art movement and Orphic C ...

; besides works by slightly less celebrated artists like Lou Albert-Lasard (2,004 works), François-Rupert Carabin (399 works), Marcelle Cahn (355 works), Lothar von Seebach (321 works), Jean-Désiré Ringel d'Illzach (250 works), etc. A further accent is set by contemporary German painters (

Markus Lüpertz Markus Lüpertz (born 25 April 1941) is a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and writer. He also publishes a magazine, and plays jazz piano. He is one of the best-known German contemporary artists. His subjects are characterized by suggest ...

, Eugen Schönebeck,

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his subjects upside down in an effort to overcome the ...

Jörg Immendorff Jörg Immendorff (14 June 1945 – 28 May 2007) was a German painter, sculptor, stage designer and art professor. He was a member of the art movement Junge Wilde, ''Neue Wilde''. Early life and education Immendorff was born in Bleckede, Lowe ...

, A. R. Penck,

Albert Oehlen Albert Oehlen (born 17 September 1954) is a German artist. He lives and works in Bühler, Switzerland and Segovia, Spain.

, Daniel Richter,

Jonathan Meese Jonathan Meese (born January 23, 1970 in Tokyo) is a German painter, sculptor, performance artist and installation artist based in Berlin and Hamburg. Meese's (often multi-media) works include paintings, collages, drawings and writing. He also d ...

Thomas Scheibitz Thomas Scheibitz (born 1968 in Radeberg, East Germany) is a German painter and sculptor. Together with Tino Sehgal he created the German pavilion on the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005. He lives and works in Berlin. Life and work The son of an East ...

Wolf Vostell Wolf Vostell (14 October 1932 – 3 April 1998) was a German painter and sculptor, considered one of the early adopters of video art and installation art and pioneer of Happenings and Fluxus. Techniques such as blurring and Dé-coll/age are ch ...

etc.), who give a representative glimpse of an art genre which is otherwise rarely seen in France, especially on this scale. The Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg also owns the first

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

painting ever purchased by a public French collection, "Still Life" (1911) by

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

, acquired in 1923, as well as the first painting by

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

purchased by a public French collection, "Joan of Arc Kissing the Sword of Deliverance" (1863), acquired in 1996 (now displayed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts). Further important exhibited works of fine artists are (selected): *

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). Hi ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hunt ...

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...

Alexander Archipenko Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr; uk, Олександр Порфирович Архипенко, Romanized: Olexandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian and American ...

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

Ossip Zadkine Ossip Zadkine (russian: Осип Цадкин; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Belarusian-born French artist. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born on ...

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

Auguste Herbin Auguste Herbin (29 April 1882 – 31 January 1960) was a French painter of modern art. He is best known for his Cubist and abstract paintings consisting of colorful geometric figures. He co-founded the groups Abstraction-Création and Salon des ...

* Alberto Magnelli *

Jean Hélion Jean Hélion (April 21, 1904October 27, 1987) was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter. He w ...

Asger Jorn Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest ...

Arman Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (''cachets'', ''allures d'objet'') to ...

* Gilles Aillaud *

Malcolm Morley Malcolm A. Morley (June 7, 1931 – June 1, 2018) was a British-American artist and painter. He was known as an artist who pioneered in varying styles, working as a photorealist and an expressionist, among many other styles. Life Morley was ...

The collection of Alsatian artists is also important, in terms of their number and at least their regional value, representing such genres as

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

and

New Realism New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

: Charles Spindler, René Beeh, Jean-Désiré Ringel d'Illzach, Henri Beecke, Luc Hueber, Martin Hubrecht and Camille Claus. The photographic library of the museum has several thousand photographs, from the origin of photography up until today, including works of

Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person t ...

Eugène Atget Eugène Atget (; 12 February 1857 – 4 August 1927) was a French ''flâneur'' and a pioneer of documentary photography, noted for his determination to document all of the architecture and street scenes of Paris before their disappearance to mod ...

Eadweard Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...

Étienne-Jules Marey Étienne-Jules Marey (; 5 March 1830, Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 15 May 1904, Paris) was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer. His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinema ...

August Sander August Sander (17 November 1876 – 20 April 1964) was a German portrait and documentary photographer. His first book ''Face of our Time'' (German: ''Antlitz der Zeit'') was published in 1929. Sander has been described as "the most important Ger ...

, Willy Maywald, Josef Sudek,

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

Duane Michals Duane Michals ( "Michaels"; born February 18, 1932) is an American photographer. Michals's work makes innovative use of photo-sequences, often incorporating text to examine emotion and philosophy. Education and career Michals's interest in ar ...

and

Jan Saudek Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935) is an art photographer and painter. Jan Saudek's art work represents a unique technique combining photography and painting. In his country of origin, Czechoslovakia, Jan was considered a disturbed artist and oppre ...

. Regional photography is also acknowledged. The artistic video collection has works of

Bill Viola Bill Viola ( , ; born 1951) is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, d ...

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...

, Woody Vasulka,

Olaf Breuning Olaf Breuning (born February 16, 1970)SIK ISEAOlaf Breuning/ref> is a Swiss-born artist, born in Schaffhausen, who lives in New York City. Works *''Home 1/Home 2'' (2004/7)--30 minute video starring Brian Kerstetter. ''Home 1'' is presented as ...

and many others.

Gallery

File:Monet, Champ d'avoine aux coquelicots ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg ).JPG,

, '' Champ d'avoine aux coquelicots'' File:Sisley, Paysage avec maisons ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg ).JPG,

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...

, ''Paysage avec maisons'' File:Pissarro, La petite fabrique ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg ).JPG,

, '' La Petite Fabrique'' File:Joan of Arc Kissing the Sword of Deliverance.jpg,

, '' Joan of Arc Kissing the Sword of Deliverance'' File:Signac, Antibes, le soir ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg ).JPG,

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. He ...

, ''Antibes, le soir'' File:Le Christ quittant le prétoire-Gustave Doré (3).jpg,

, ''Le Christ quittant le prétoire'' File:Liebermann, Le jardin de l'orphelinat communal de la ville d'Amsterdam ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg ).JPG,

, '' Garden of the Orphanage in Amsterdam'' File:Renoir, Portrait de Marie Le Cœur ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg ).JPG,

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

, ''Portrait de Marie Le Cœur'' File:Vallotton, Femme nue dormant au bord de l'eau ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg ).JPG,

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as . He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portra ...

, '' Femme nue dormant au bord de l'eau'' File:Gris, Nature morte ( Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg ).JPG,

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...

, ''Still life'' File:Theo van Doesburg 045.jpg,

, ''Fortunam suam quisque parat'' File:Klee, Der Mensch ist der Mund des Herrn.JPG,

, ''Der Mensch ist der Mund des Herrn'' (Man is the Mouth of the Lord) Kandinsky - Drei Elemente (1925).jpg,

, '' Three Elements'' File:Der Denker.jpg,

, ''The Thinker'' (and behind:

, ''Wall Jumpers'')

References

Literature

*''Les collections du Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de la ville de Strasbourg'', Éditions des musées de la ville de Strasbourg, February 2008, ''in French'' *''Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art'', Éditions des musées de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 2021,

External links

*
Selected works

Online collection database
showing 17,994 works by 2,553 artists as of 28 March 2022 {{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Strasbourg Modern art museums in France FRAME Museums Art museums established in 1973 1973 establishments in France