Visit to Museum Ludwig in January 2024

Museum Ludwig in Cologne houses "Eu­rope’s most ex­ten­sive col­lec­tion of Pop Art, the third-largest Pi­cas­so col­lec­tion in the world, one of the most im­por­tant col­lec­tions of Ger­man Ex­pres­sion­ism, out­s­tand­ing works from the Rus­sian avant-garde, and an ex­cel­lent col­lec­tion on the his­to­ry of pho­tog­ra­phy: To­day the Mu­se­um Lud­wig is home to one of the most im­por­tant col­lec­tions of twen­ti­eth- and twen­ty-first-cen­tu­ry art in the world. And, un­like roy­al col­lec­tions, it owes its ex­is­tence to the ex­traor­d­i­nary ded­i­ca­tion of pri­vate ci­t­izens. The corn­er­s­tone for the found­ing of the mu­se­um was laid in 1976 with a do­na­tion of 350 works of mod­ern art to the ci­ty of Cologne by the col­lec­tors Peter and Irene Lud­wig" *.

And Franziska loves the arts, as all of my regular readers know. So, let's dive in into this wonderful (to the author's opinion) collection of "crossdressing and arts" photography.  

* from the website of the museum

The museum itself (on the right), under the shadow of "Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus" ("Cathedral Church of Saint Peter") or in everyday language “Kölner Dom.”

Selected examples of the collection - with Franziska!

Niki De Saint Phalle. We visited a Niki exhibition in Frankfurt's museum "Schirn" just two years ago. So it was fun to see one of the many "Nanas" again here.

Franz Gertsch's 1975 painting "Marina (Sibbe) making up Luciano (Castello, her boyfriend at that time)."

Roy Lichtenstein "M-Maybe he became ill and couldn’t leave the studio" (my contribution at CDH on 08.01.2024).

"Ladies' Home Journal" August 1968, an American magazine that ran from 1883 until 2016.

Tom Wesselmann "Landscape no. 2."

I don't know how many of these authentic blue Yves Klein paintings I have seen in my life. Many years ago, Frankfurt's museum "Schirn" ran a whole exhibition on these. Imagine, a whole exhibition in the exact same color.

The lobby/staircase of Museum Ludwig, with one of its sponsor in the top left corner.

For the first time, Franziska had booked and joined a guided museum tour. It was fun to be part of a crowd that followed the guide around.

A light installation in blue (nope, not from Yves Klein).

And a little fun with Heimo Zoberig, 2015, untitled.

Herrmann Scherer's "Lovers" from 1925 in painted wood.

Franzi visiting the extensive Pablo Picasso collection.

What a fun day, exploring this wonderful museum - en femme! And I hope to have fulfilled your expectations raised in the intro.