The Ludwig Museum is one of the world`s largest collections of modern art. The museum`s collection is based on the private collection of Peter Ludwig and his wife Irina. He bequeathed his collection to the city of Cologne.
The Ludwig Museum was established in 1976, and in 1986 a new spacious building was built for it in the vicinity of Cologne Cathedral. One floor of the museum is built underground, so as not to disturb the high-rise buildings next to the cathedral.
The Ludwig Museum has one of the largest collections of paintings by Pablo Picasso. Several hundred paintings of this master were given to the city by Peter Ludwig. There are both early works by Picasso and his later masterpieces in the Cubist style. In addition to paintings by Picasso, you can see his sculptures, as well as ceramics.
The Ludwig Museum has one of the largest collections of the Russian avant-garde. There are works by famous in Europe Russian artists: Vasily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova, Alexander Rodchenko. There are also interesting works by Salvador Dali and other masters of surrealism.
Very large areas of the Ludwig Museum are given over to contemporary artists of the second half of the 20th century, as well as the 21st century. Here you can see the works of the founder of pop art Andy Warhol, German expressionists and many other contemporary artists. The museum hosts about 10 temporary exhibitions every year.
