Recollected art

While visiting Essen in 1932, Paul J. Sachs, a co-founder of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was so struck by Museum Folkwang that he dubbed it the "most beautiful museum" in the world.

At the time, it displayed works by artists like Henri Matisse, Vassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc and others. These modern masterpieces were shown side by side with objects from China and Japan, Greece and Egypt, Java and Oceania.

Starting in 1937, the Nazis confiscated more than 1,400 works which were later sold and dispersed into public and private collections around the world. For the first time in over seven decades, the majority of the original Folkwang collection is together in one location and can be viewed from March 20 - July 25, 2010. Deutsche Welle spoke with Hartwig Fischer, the director of the Museum Folkwang.

The exhibition, entitled "The Most Beautiful Museum in the World," is the first special show in the newly reopened building, whose renovation was overseen by London-based architect David Chipperfield.

Essen and the surrounding Ruhr Valley are one of three 2010 European Capitals of Culture.

Deutsche Welle: The exhibition only lasts for about four months. Does it make you sad to think about it ending?

Hartwig Fischer: Working on this exhibition means working with a historical fact. Namely that Germany mutilated itself culturally under the Nazis and damaged so many significant collections, so much art, and so many artists. But these things have stayed alive, they can be seen. They're in other museums today. So, I don't think I'll be sad. Rather, I'm happy that we were able to bring these works here for four months. It's a great privilege.

Of course, with every beautiful work, you can picture having it in your own museum. But what's more important is that these pieces still exist and play a role in our lives.

How difficult was it to obtain the works for this exhibition?

Most of the works are part of public collections, not private ones. We received a lot of support from our partner institutions, because everyone understood that this is a special exhibition that can only be done once - and can only be done here.

In the end, we got nearly everything we wanted, with very few exceptions. Some pieces aren't there - not because the owners didn't want to lend them, but simply because they couldn't be lent, due to restoration or organizational reasons.

Which important works from before 1933 could not be obtained?

There is a self-portrait of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner which was painted on a tablecloth. It's so fragile that it cannot travel anymore. There's a painting by Henri Matisse that is now part of another exhibition, which had been planned much further in advance. But with the pieces we were able to obtain, the brilliance of Museum Folkwang prior to 1933 has been resurrected.

One of your focuses with this exhibition was the history of the collection. What else are you striving for?

This exhibition is not a reconstruction of the original collection. We don't show the works exactly as they were displayed in 1932. Rather, we're showing them according to today's criteria. We designed an exhibition plan that allows us to give each of the sections and each of the cultures its own room.

But these rooms are connected so that visitors can see from one to the next and there is a permanent exchange without misunderstanding that these cultures indeed have their own area and own world. That's what we can show in this new exhibition with the museum's new architecture - how a universal approach can be given a fresh angle.

Today, no one would display a Gauguin or Van Gogh next to a traditional African mask. But why not?

You can place works next to other that don't necessarily have much to do with each other, but where the perception of one enhances a person's perception of the other. That's a very mysterious process.

In this exhibition, we have both. We've placed the pieces very close together, but we don't suggest that they necessarily have something to do with each other. I think it's important to maintain this differentiation so that you don't do anything that can't be justified historically. Apart from that, you can combine anything you want.

What it comes down to in the end is whether the result enchants you and stimulates you to take a closer look, and whether it helps you see things better.

Interview: Anastassia Boutsko (kjb)

Editor: Andreas Illmer