07.11.2026 - 27.07.2027
The RuhrKunstMuseen are joining forces to bring together highlights from their art collections—digitally via a web app and, starting in April 2025, in a major special exhibition at Villa Hügel.
The 21 RuhrKunstMuseen represent the unique urban museum landscape of the Ruhr region and present over 150 art exhibitions annually in 16 cities across the region. Not only are they among the first museum collections of modern art in Germany, but together they also form one of the largest. Now, these multifaceted collections are being linked in a playful way and can be explored together: The digital web app www.21x21.de went live on November 7. It showcases over 400 works of art from the 21 museums in dialogue with one another and provides a cross-section of the regional and international history of 20th- and 21st-century art collections. From April 11 to July 27, 2025, a major special exhibition featuring highlights from the RuhrKunstMuseen collections will follow at Villa Hügel in Essen.
21 x 21
DIGITAL LAUNCH | NOVEMBER 7, 2024
SPECIAL EXHIBITION | STARTING APRIL 11, 2025, VILLA HÜGEL, ESSEN
FEATURED WORK FROM HAMM: WESTFALIAN EXPRESSIONISM
The Gustav Lübcke Museum selected Wilhelm Morgner’s “Hügel” (glue tempera on gray cardboard, 85 × 117 cm, acquired in 1929) from 1911 as its featured work. This painting, typical of Wilhelm Morgner’s style, was acquired from the artist’s estate as early as 1929. Together with works by the artists Eberhard Viegener, Max Schulze-Sölde, and Peter August Böckstiegel, acquired at the same time, it forms the historical core of the museum’s collection on Westphalian Expressionism. With numerous other watercolors, drawings, and prints, Morgner plays an important role within this key collection focus, which defines the museum’s profile.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE RUHR REGION AS AN ART DESTINATION – THE HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONS
The collections of the RuhrKunstMuseen now comprise more than 500,000 works, ranging from modernist masterpieces by artists such as August Macke, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Marc Chagall to significant works of contemporary art by artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Nan Goldin, Timm Ulrichs, and Ai Weiwei. Major national and international art movements—such as Expressionism and postwar art, including Art Informel, Concrete Art, Zero, and Fluxus, as well as the feminist avant-garde—are represented in the collections. In addition to painting, sculpture, and printmaking, photography in particular—but also media art—plays an important role in the collections. The collections also feature works by members of regional artist groups such as “junger westen,” which was founded in Recklinghausen after World War II, promoted an abstract visual language, and linked it to the industrial landscapes of the Ruhr region.
THE DIGITAL COLLECTION PRESENTATION – BROWSE THROUGH 21 ART MUSEUMS AND FIND YOUR FAVORITES IN THE “MUSEUM MATCH”
Starting in November 2024, visitors can explore these multifaceted and diverse art collections in a playful way: The digital project “21 x 21: The Collections of the RuhrKunstMuseen” presents over 400 works of art from the individual museums in dialogue with one another, offering a cross-section of the collections. Each of the 21 RuhrKunstMuseen selected a work from its collection to serve as inspiration for the other museums and form the basis for a creative exchange. The partner museums paired each of the 21 inspirational works with a piece from their own collection—thus linking the artworks across different eras, techniques, themes, and artists into an inspiring dialogue and weaving a broad web of associations across 21 thematic areas. The artworks are presented at www.21x21.de and on the RuhrKunstMuseen website through images, texts, animations, and films. Renowned author and host Ronja von Rönne lends the project its own voice as the narrator. In the interactive “Museum Match,” modeled after dating platforms, users can find the museum that’s right for them and, from then on, follow their hearts through the art world of the Ruhr region.
