Sprengel Museum is a museum of

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 tradi ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, holding one of the most significant collections of

in Germany. It is located in a building situated adjacent to the Masch Lake (german: Maschsee) approximately south of the state museum. The museum opened in , and the building, designed by Peter and Ursula Trint (of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

) and Dieter Quast (of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

), was extended in 1992.

Bernhard Sprengel Dr. Bernhard Sprengel (17 April 1899 – 22 January 1985) was a German chocolate manufacturer and modern art collector. Life Sprengel studied at the Goethe school and later took courses in political science. In May 1919 he became one of the fir ...

donated his extensive collection of modern art to the city of Hanover in 1969, as well as financially supporting the construction of the museum. The city of Hanover and the state of

agreed to operate the museum jointly. In addition to the works donated by Sprengel, the museum also houses 20th century artworks owned by Lower Saxony and Hanover.

Expansion

A further expansion, designed by Zurich-based architects Meili + Peter, was originally planned for 2010 but Hannover steht zur Erweiterung des Sprengel Museums
Ronald Meyer-Arlt, ''

Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung ''Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (abbreviated HAZ) is a German newspaper with a circulation of 158,000 (as of 2009) and a widespread resonance all over Germany. It is distributed in Hanover and in all Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: ...

'', 4 August 2010. The

cuboid In geometry, a cuboid is a hexahedron, a six-faced solid. Its faces are quadrilaterals. Cuboid means "like a cube", in the sense that by adjusting the length of the edges or the angles between edges and faces a cuboid can be transformed into a cub ...

design of the new building was chosen from 65 entrants in an international architecture competition. The original plan would have created an extra of exhibition space, and was expected to cost around €25million, with €10M coming from Lower Saxony's EU funding, €5M directly from Lower Saxony, €5M from the city of Hanover, and €5M expected from donors. These estimates have since been reduced. A major objective of the expansion is to allow extensive coverage of

Niki de Saint Phalle Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monume ...

and the Hanoverian artist

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, pain ...

. The new building will also be used for one-off international exhibitions.

Works

Besides Schwitters and de Saint Phalle, the Sprengel Museums's key works include those of

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 ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

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 ...

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

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of th ...

, and

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920 ...

from before 1945. It also has a monument depicting the crimes of serial killer

Fritz Haarmann Friedrich Heinrich Karl "Fritz" Haarmann (25 October 1879 – 15 April 1925) was a German serial killer, known as the Butcher of Hanover, the Vampire of Hanover and the Wolf Man, who committed the sexual assault, murder, mutilation and dismemb ...

. In 1988, the museum inherited the estate of the artists and married couple

Robert Michel Robert Henry Michel (; March 2, 1923 – February 17, 2017) was an American Republican Party politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives for 38 years. He represented central Illinois' 18th congressional distric ...

and

Ella Bergmann-Michel Ella Bergmann-Michel (20 October 1896 – 8 August 1971) was a German abstract artist, photographer and documentary filmmaker. An early student of constructivist art in Germany, her contributions to modern abstract art are often forgotten in Am ...

. The museum publishes a printed inventory of this estate, of which two volumes have so far been published. Since 1993, the Sprengel Museum has contained the Kurt Schwitters Archive, of which the

Merz Merz may refer to: * Merz (art style), a synonym for the more common term Dada * Merz (musician), a British electro-folk singer * Merz (surname) * Merz Apothecary, a historic German health care store in Chicago * Merz & McLellan, a British electric ...

Room is particularly notable. In 2000, Niki de Saint Phalle became an honorary citizen of Hanover and subsequently donated 300 of her works to the museum.

Restitution of Nazi-looted art

in June 2000, the museum voted to return the Lovis Corinth painting ''The Walchensee on St John's eve'' () to the heirs of

Gustav Kirstein Gustav Kirstein (born 24 February 1870 in Berlin; died 14 February 1934 in Leipzig) was a German publisher, writer, and art collector of Jewish descent. Life Kirstein was the son of a medical doctor. He first studied pharmacy, graduated, worked ...

and his wife Therese Clara Stein, who were persecuted by Nazis because of their Jewish heritage.

References

External links

*
Kurt and Ernst Schwitters Foundation
{{Authority control Art museums established in 1979 Museums in Hanover Art museums and galleries in Germany Biographical museums in Germany Modern art museums in Germany Culture of Lower Saxony 1979 establishments in West Germany