Kunsthalle Recklinghausen

The Recklinghausen Kunsthalle collection comprises over 5,000 works, mostly from the 20th and 21st centuries. Century. The art collection began in the 1920s, when the Vestisches Museum was founded to collect so-called „ Modern Art “ in addition to local history and historical objects.

The still young collection was decimated as early as 1937 because the National Socialists 37 had works written as „ “ removed from the museum, including pictures by Peter August Böckstiegel, Käthe Kollwitz, Wilhelm Morgner, Christian Rohlfs and Max Schulze-Sölde. Other works of art fell victim to the destruction of the war, and the end of the Second World War meant an absolute new beginning of exhibition and collection activity for Recklinghausen. 

A key focus of the collection is on works by the artist group » young west « founded in Recklinghausen in 1947 and the German Informel, on award winners*inside the art prize of the same name and on a concentrated collection of modern and naive art, mainly from the Ruhr area. Despite only a small purchase agent, the collection of the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen is growing continuously.

In addition to the new acquisitions of works by the sponsors of the art prize „ young west “, donations from private property and from artists, but also permanent loans, for example from the art holdings of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the collection has been significantly rounded off in recent years.on winners of the art prize of the same name as well as on a concentrated collection of modern and naive art, mainly from the Ruhr area. 

Despite only a small purchase agent, the collection of the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen is growing continuously. In addition to the new acquisitions of works by the sponsors of the art prize „ young west “, donations from private property and from artists, but also permanent loans, for example from the art holdings of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the collection has been significantly rounded off in recent years.

In addition to the new acquisitions of works by the sponsors of the art prize „ young west “, donations from private property and from artists, but also permanent loans, for example from the art holdings of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the collection has been significantly rounded off in recent years.