Kunstmuseum Schlossplatz Stuttgart 2015 02

The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart is a

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

and

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

museum in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, built and opened in 2005.

Description

The cubic museum building with 5000 m² of display space was designed by

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

architects Hascher and Jehle. During the day it looks like a glass cube, and at nights the interior lighted

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

walls become visible.

Collection

The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart museum's collection comes from the previous "Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart". The city's collection goes back to a gift from the Marchese Silvio della Valle di Casanova in 1924. It contains one of the most important collections of the work of

Otto Dix Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and Printmaking, printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Alon ...

and also works from

Willi Baumeister Willi Baumeister (22 January 1889 – 31 August 1955) was a German painter, scenic designer, art professor, and typographer. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1932 Summer Olympics. Life Born in S ...

, Adolf Hölzel,

Dieter Roth Dieter Roth (April 21, 1930 – June 5, 1998) was a Swiss artist who gained recognition for his diverse body of work, which included artist's books, editioned prints, sculpture, and creations from found materials, including rotting foodstuffs. ...

, and others.

Construction History

The site now occupied by the cubic structure of the new Kunstmuseum was once home to the ruins of the

Kronprinzenpalais The Kronprinzenpalais (English: ''Crown Prince's Palace'') is a former Royal Prussian residence on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built in 1663 and renovated in 1857 according to plans by Heinrich Strack in ...

, which had been damaged during an air raid in 1944. The Kronprinzenpalais had served as an urban counterpart to the Wilhelmspalais at the opposite end of the Planie. After the ruins were demolished in 1963, the Planie was redeveloped into a six-lane road with four additional tunnels designed for both cars and trams. To make crossing in the Königstraße easier for pedestrians, the stair-like Kleine Schloßplatz was constructed in 1968. However, it never fully met its intended purpose and was not widely embraced. For years, discussions revolved around demolishing the structure, as it was seen as unnecessary, especially after the surface-level street had been covered again. The construction of the new Kunstmuseum after the year 2000 filled this gap in the urban landscape next to the Königsbau along Königstraße.

Management

The first director of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Marion Ackermann, became the director of the Kunstsammlung NRW in Düsseldorf in 2009. Ulrike Groos, former director of the

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available preca ...

, took over the leadership of the Kunstmuseum in 2010.

External links

Official website

Hascher and Jehle: architects' website with construction photos

References