Collection in motion - 15 rooms 15 stories

Body views

Sun, May 21, 2023–Sat, Sep 9, 2023

Kaiser Wilhelm Museum

A new room on the first floor of the KWM in cooperation with the Kunsthalle Bremen has been created for Collection in motion under the title Körperansichten (Body Views) on the male as well as female understanding of roles around 1900. Both museums are lending each other top works from their collections on a longer-term basis this year: Parliament, Sunset (1904) by Claude Monet is in Bremen, and in return, one painting each by Paula Modersohn-Becker and by Otto Modersohn are guests in Krefeld.

The paintings Self-Portrait against a Green Background with Blue Iris (around 1905) by Paula Modersohn-Becker and Paula Modersohn in a Garden at Night (1902) by Otto Modersohn draw attention to how a young female artist perceived herself around 1900 and how the male gaze on the female body provides information about the understanding of roles at the time. Sculptures by Käthe Kollwitz, Gerhard Marcks, and Auguste Rodin from the collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld complement the presentation and deepen the focus on entrenched role images as revealed by views of the body in art around 1900.

In 2020, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld launched a new concept for the presentation of its collection that introduces the extensive holdings in a dynamic, varied way and with diverse themes. Under the title Collection in Motion, 15 stories line up like a string of pearls in the 15 rooms on the second floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum. Again and again, a new room emerges, and sculptures, paintings, and design objects come together to form other surprising stories. With this lively form of permanent presentation of the collection, interdisciplinary connections between art, design, and architecture can emerge and historical holdings can be reactivated under current questions.