Friendship, Responsibility, Future: Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen on a Time of Change

In an interview with Carla Cugini and Larissa Grotebrune, Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen talks about her personal memories of Irene and Peter Ludwig, as well as about the challenges and reorientation of the Ludwig Foundation following the death of its founder. She also reveals why the summer of 2023 was the right time to step down from the Board of Trustees. 

The interview took place at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne on October 26, 2023. Carla Cugini is CEO of the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation. Larissa Grotebrune completes her traineeship in public relations with the Foundation’s new website. 

Carla Cugini (CC): Dear Ms. Pfeiffer-Poensgen, you had a very long and intimate relationship with Irene Ludwig, as well as with the Ludwigs as a couple. How did you get to know them? 

It all started in my childhood because my parents belonged to a circle of friends in Aachen that included Irene and Peter Ludwig. My father and Irene Monheim were already childhood friends. What I remember most from my childhood was that on the first Sunday of Advent, Irene and Peter Ludwig would send a large package of different kinds of chocolate from Trumpf to all their friends with children. That was something very special in the 1950s. My parents never bought chocolate, so the Ludwigs naturally had a special place in our hearts as children. 

In ​“Actually, they’re all much too old for me. Can’t you give the laudation?” — Irene Ludwig to Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, 2007

1999, I was appointed Head of Cultural Affairs in Aachen. Irene Ludwig was the very first person to call me and said: ​“I think it’s great that the daughter of Jost Pfeiffer — head of the CDU parliamentary group — has been appointed Head of Cultural Affairs by the red-green coalition!” That was the beginning of a truly wonderful friendship. We saw each other often and talked a lot on the phone. When she was planning the celebration of her eightieth birthday at the Ludwig Forum in Aachen — with the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, all kinds of dignitaries, and luminaries from the art world — she called me: In ​“Actually, they’re all much too old for me. Can’t you give the laudation?” Of course, you can’t say no. When you do something like that, you want to do it well and do justice to the person. But it cost me a lot of weekends.

Larissa Grotebrune (LG): You were Head of Cultural Affairs in Aachen until 2004. Then, in 2005, Irene Ludwig appointed you to the Board of Trustees.

Exactly. I started working for the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States in Berlin, and Irene Ludwig asked me if I would like to join the Board of Trustees of the Ludwig Foundation. Aachen had always been very important to her. Some people thought that the administration of the Foundation could be moved to Cologne, but Irene Ludwig stood firm. I remember a meeting at the Art Cologne with Irene Ludwig, Marie Hüllenkremer, then head of the cultural department in Cologne, who was also from Aachen, and myself. In this group, Irene Ludwig said: ​“Oh, we Aachen girls!” She was very attached to Aachen, and that’s why I think it’s crucial that the Foundation remains in Aachen — it’s what the founder would have wanted. 

CC: When Irene Ludwig passed away in 2010, it was a turning point and, in many ways, a new beginning. What challenges did the Foundation face, and how did it reposition itself during this time? 

It was a blessing to have Walter Queins as the Foundation’s Executive Director. Together with Elke Beyer, Peter Ludwig’s right hand for many years, he was always faithfully at Irene Ludwig’s side. After her death, he worked incredibly hard to implement and realize her last will and testament. There was the question of the estate, but also of the house in which Irene Ludwig had lived until the end. There were thoughts of parting with the property and investing in art instead. However, we all realized that we could not sell the house. Because this building is a total work of art with all the porcelain tile pictures embedded in the walls, with the numerous built-in spolia from old, destroyed Aachen houses, but also from elsewhere. The numerous designed corners make it clear that the house really is the nucleus of this unique collection. 

It was the right decision: The house now functions as a professional workspace. 

After much deliberation and calculation — and taking into account the fact that the house is an integral part of the Foundation and that it follows non-profit guidelines — the necessary renovations were carried out. It was the right decision: The house now functions as a professional workspace. At the same time, it was important to us to preserve the original appearance of the downstairs rooms to give a sense of how the Ludwigs lived and collected.

LG: And the rooms can also be used for smaller, occasional events or for guided tours. Irene Ludwig herself once said: ​“I don’t want this house to become a mausoleum when I die.” Right?

Exactly, that was a clear statement. She was always good for a snappy remark. 

In addition to the house and the challenges of running the Foundation as an ongoing operation, there was also the question of the bequests. This also meant that we had to look at the collection again. We were particularly concerned that everything should remain in the respective museums. Once we had completed this phase of professionalization, the question arose as to how we could continue to develop the Foundation and the collection in the future, so that we wouldn’t just be collecting dust in honor.

CC: That must have been difficult for you. You were also personally affected by the death of a close friend, Irene Ludwig. At the same time, in the course of many deliberations, discussions, and plans together with your colleagues on the Board of Trustees, you very professionally promoted the motto ​“not to gather dust in honor.” That was of vital importance. 

Of course, the motivation also came from this personal, also motherly friendship — Irene Ludwig was much older than me. We simply thought: ​“This has to continue now. We have to develop the future.” Two or three years after Peter Ludwig’s death, when Irene Ludwig had regained her footing and the big things were settled, she said: ​“Now I want to buy art again!” She was always like that. And that’s exactly what she did. She maintained close contact with Kasper König, then Director of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, and was closely involved in the museum’s activities. She was often at the Ludwig Forum in Aachen during Harald Kunde’s time. She got on very well with him, and he also encouraged her to continue — she was really very committed until the last few months, when her health began to fail. And not only because she enjoyed it, but because she believed that it had to go on. 

After all, it’s no longer Irene and Peter Ludwig who collect, but the museums. It’s important to encourage them to continue to expand their collections, to bring in the present, and to fill in gaps in older art.

I think that’s also part of the mission of the Foundation, that you can’t stand still. That’s why, when Walter Queins retired, we decided to appoint an art historian, Brigitte Franzen, as his successor. Since Irene Ludwig was no longer there as the ​“art historical head” of the Foundation, we felt it was important to anchor art historical expertise on the Board, someone who understood museum work. After all, it’s no longer Irene and Peter Ludwig who collect, but the museums. It’s important to encourage them to continue to expand their collections, to bring in the present, and to fill in gaps in older art. Even in times of complex investments, the Foundation has a responsibility to fulfill this mission. You have to take an active stance, otherwise not only the Foundation will fall into oblivion — which would be the lesser of two evils — but also the great life’s work of its founders, the Ludwig Collection.

She was great to talk to, she was right in the thick of things, and not just about Aachen (…) But you could also just sit with her at the kitchen table in the evening and eat sandwiches. 

LG: What did you appreciate most about Irene Ludwig and your friendship? 

She was very encouraging. That was always very important to me. She was someone who would call you even when you were under attack — she’d read all the Aachen newspapers by six o’clock in the morning and would always say: ​“What you’re doing is right. Keep going!” People always thought she was such a fine, wealthy lady. Of course, she always kept her composure when she appeared in public; she was just very well-mannered. But you could also have a really good laugh with her, be cheeky and funny. She was very down to earth. I really liked her. You had to break through the outer ladylike shell a little bit, but that wasn’t difficult at all because she was actually a very emotional person. She was great to talk to, she was right in the thick of things, and not just about Aachen. We also talked about national and international issues time and again. When I was in Berlin, we would always talk on the phone on Sundays and sort out the art world, so to speak. She was incredibly well informed. And she managed the collection internally in a very professional way. We can still see that today in the index cards. You could see how well she really knew everything about the history of the collection. But you could also just sit with her at the kitchen table in the evening and eat sandwiches. 

LG: And what do you remember about Peter Ludwig? 

As a Rhinelander, as a Rhenish Catholic who grew up in Koblenz with an absolutely bourgeois upbringing and then lived in Aachen, he was so open to all kinds of art. He not only bought the beautiful, the good — Delft tiles or Asian ceramics — but also this incredibly provocative socio-political, even political art. I still find that the greatest phenomenon. 

CC: You stepped down from the Board of Trustees in the summer of 2023. What do you wish the Ludwig Foundation for the future? What advice would you give us? 

I was on the Board of Trustees for over eighteen years, and I think the Foundation is in a good position. You have been CEO for two years, there has also been a CFO, Mr. Schalla, for almost three years now. Two relatively new members of the Board of Trustees, Rainer Krause and Matthias Wagner K, have been learning the ropes for the last three years — a good time to reorganize my own honorary commitments. I was delighted to learn that Carolin Scharpff-Striebich was elected as a new member of the Board of Trustees, an excellent choice.

I think that this awareness, that public-spiritedness, that farsightedness, has to be a guiding principle.

What would my advice be to the Foundation? Continue along this path, stay on course! Courageously promote collecting and exhibiting, also in new, as yet unknown forms. Stay in the discourse. You must be proactive, as you are, dear Mrs. Cugini. Maintain the openness that Peter and Irene Ludwig exemplified — open to new ideas while keeping an eye on the common good. They could have taken a different path: Peter Ludwig could have bought a luxury yacht and sailed the world’s oceans, but he chose to collect art for the public, with a global focus. I think that this awareness, that public-spiritedness, that farsightedness, has to be a guiding principle. Solid finances are also important, but it is crucial to carry the Ludwigs’ great idea into the future in a flexible and open-minded way. The Ludwig Foundation should definitely retain this courage and this cosmopolitan attitude. 

CC/LG: Dear Ms. Pfeiffer-Poensgen, thank you very much for this wonderful interview!