Lyonel-Feininger-Galerie

Description

In the centre of Quedlinburg is the Museum Lyonel Feininger, formerly known as the Lyonel-Feininger-Galerie. It presents a focused collection on the life and work of the artist and occupies an important position in the region’s museum landscape.

The site is located near Schloss Quedlinburg; in 1997 a new building with additional exhibition space was erected in the courtyard opposite the castle. The main entrance is on Finkenherd; a second access is beside the Klopstockhaus on Schloßberg. The collection is listed as a movable cultural monument under registration number 094 21194 in the local monument register.

The house opened in 1986 and has been under the sponsorship of the Stiftung Moritzburg – Kunstmuseum des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle since 2006. As early as 2003 it was included in the Blaubuch as a Kultureller Gedächtnisort; since 2014 it has been part of the Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt. The collection is based on works that a former Bauhaus student saved from destruction by the National Socialists. In its cohesion the holdings rank among the world’s most extensive assemblages of Feininger’s graphic works, etchings, lithographs and woodcuts and it is the only museum devoted exclusively to his oeuvre. The holdings document Feininger’s creative phases in Germany from the 1890s to 1937.

The collection is supplemented by works by Lovis Corinth, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Emil Nolde and, since 2005, by permanent loans from the Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz. In 2019 the non-independent foundation Lyonel Feininger Sammlung Armin Rühl expanded the holdings with early caricatures and comic drawings from the 1890s and the first years of the 20th century. For conservation reasons light-sensitive works on paper are shown only in rotating displays.

Since 2014 the museum has also placed a focus on the graphic arts. In April 2022 a new permanent exhibition was opened that provides an overview of Feininger’s work as a caricaturist, graphic artist, painter, Bauhaus master and photographer; the artist’s family and the museum’s history are also addressed.

The museum is financed by municipal grants and the Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt; current agreements govern the phased adjustment of the city and district contributions through 2026.