The Ludwig Network

As a globally active art foundation, our goal is to facilitate unique art experiences, a scholarly sound broadening of horizons, and new perspectives for the benefit of the public. We believe that art, in its diversity, uniqueness, and overall context, can best be experienced and studied in public museums. 

Our commitment to the Ludwig network is based on a clear mission: We stand for strong cooperation and productive collaboration. We work together with public museums as valuable engines of an open culture of discussion about art and its idealistic and social value. 

The Ludwig network currently includes 30 public institutions in seven countries on three continents. 14 of them have “Ludwig” in their name, either because they were founded on the initiative of Irene and Peter Ludwig, or because they own parts of the outstanding Ludwig Collection, which comprises more than 14,000 objects.

The founders of this network, Irene and Peter Ludwig, dedicated their lives to art. They firmly believed in their mission to collect and donate works of art to the public and to contribute to the establishment of museums through close cooperation with public institutions. 

We are fortunate to have an excellent international collaboration with many museums, a sustainable and valued network that has grown over the years.

Aachen

Couven-Museum

The Couven Museum presents the bourgeois home décor of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Irene and Peter Ludwig donated some 6,000 faience tiles to the museum in 1982. They can now be seen as ensembles in several rooms of the museum.

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Aachen

Ludwig Forum for International Art

The Ludwig Foundation and the Ludwig Forum have been working closely together for many decades: Founded by the City of Aachen together with Peter and Irene Ludwig as the Neue Galerie – Sammlung Ludwig, the institution has been a hot spot on the contemporary art scene since the late 1960s.

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Aachen

Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum

The Suermondt-Ludwig is one of the two museums for which the young collector couple Irene and Peter Ludwig began making acquisitions as early as 1957. In 1977, the Ludwigs donated a large group of objects to the municipal museum, which has borne the “Ludwig” suffix in its name ever since.

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Bad Steben

Graphic Museum Schreiner Foundation

The Grafikmuseum Stiftung Schreiner, located in the historic Kurhaus in Bad Steben, is an art museum specializing in graphic arts. The Graphic Museum was founded in 1994 with the support of Irene and Peter Ludwig. They gave the museum important works by Bulgarian artists on permanent loan,

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Bamberg

Ludwig Collection in the Old Town Hall - Museum Bamberg

Along with Bamberg Cathedral, the Old Town Hall is probably the most famous building in Bamberg. In 1994, Irene and Peter Ludwig deliberately chose this highly symbolic location to house their important porcelain and faience collection of over 1,300 objects dating from the early eighteenth century.

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Basel

Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

The Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig is a state museum for ancient art and culture from the Mediterranean region in the canton of Basel-Stadt. The museum received its first permanent loans from Peter and Irene Ludwig in 1968. 1981 marks the addition of the name Ludwig Collection.

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Basel

Kunstmuseum Basel

The Kunstmuseum Basel, with the Amerbach Cabinet acquired by the city in 1661, is the oldest art museum in the world and houses the largest public art collection in Switzerland.

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Berlin

Museum for Islamic Art

The Museum of Islamic Art is the reference museum in the German-speaking world for the artistic and archaeological heritage of Islamic regions

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Berlin

Neue Nationalgalerie

The Neue Nationalgalerie was built by the famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and is located at Berlin’s Kulturforum. The building itself is considered an icon of classical modernism and houses works of art from the twentieth century.

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Berlin

Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart

The collection of the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart is thematically linked to that of the Neue Nationalgalerie. In the converted rooms of the 1840s train station, the museum is dedicated to the various art movements that have emerged since 1960.

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Budapest

Ludwig Múzeum of Contemporary Art Budapest

The Ludwig Kortárs Művészeti Múzeum is located in the Palace of Arts and features a collection of contemporary art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The museum was founded in 1989 on the initiative of Peter and Irene Ludwig as part of the National Gallery in Budapest.

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Budapest

Hungarian University of Fine Arts

Founded in 1871, the University of Fine Arts is the most important art academy in Hungary. Together with the university, Peter and Irene Ludwig initiated the regular awarding of travel grants to students.

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Köln

Museum Schnütgen

The Museum Schnütgen is known far beyond the borders of Cologne for its important medieval collection. Since 1957, there has been a close relationship between the museum and the collector couple, now the Ludwig Foundation. It was one of the first two public museums for which the Ludwigs collected.

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Köln

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World

The Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World in Cologne is one of the most important ethnological museums in Germany. In 1983, Ludwigs donated an important collection of around 180 objects of pre-Columbian art to the city of Cologne, which are preserved and presented in the museum.

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Köln

Museum Ludwig

The Museum Ludwig with its outsanding collection of 20th and 21st century art is one of the world's most important art museums. It was founded in 1976 on the initiative of Irene and Peter Ludwig on the occasion of their extraordinary donation to the city of Cologne.

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Köln

Museum of East Asian Art

The Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne has an extensive collection of art and artifacts from East Asia. Since 1993, numerous permanent loans from the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation have enriched the museum’s collection.

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Köln

Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK)

The museum has one of Germany’s most important collections of European applied art from the Middle Ages to the present day. In 2011, the museum received over thirty pieces of jewelry from Irene Ludwig’s collection on permanent loan.

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Havanna

Fundacíon Ludwig de Cuba

The Fundación Ludwig de Cuba, named after its founders, Irene and Peter Ludwig, is a non-profit institution based in Havana.

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Kassel

Hessen Kassel Heritage – Antikensammlung Schloss Wilhelmshöhe

The neoclassical Schloss Wilhelmshöhe overlooks the city of Kassel and today houses a collection of antiquities, a gallery of Old Master paintings, and a collection of prints and drawings. Parts of Irene and Peter Ludwig’s extensive collection of ancient art were first exhibited in Kassel in 1968.

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Koblenz

Mittelrhein-Museum

Founded in 1835, the Mittelrhein-Museum today brings together over 2,000 years of art and cultural history on the themes of travel and the Middle Rhine. It has been part of the Ludwig network since 1960. Peter Ludwig gave important works of art from the 15th to the 18th century on permanent loan

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Koblenz

Ludwig Museum im Deutschherrenhaus

The Ludwig Museum in the former Deutschherrenhaus in Koblenz is dedicated to the presentation of contemporary international art, especially French art. The Ludwig Museum in Koblenz was founded in 1992 with a generous donation from Peter and Irene Ludwig

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Leipzig

Museum der bildenden Künste

The municipal Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig is one of the largest exhibition venues in Germany. The important collection includes works of art from various periods and presents a wide range of paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and drawings.

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Nürnberg

Germanisches Nationalmuseum

The Germanisches Nationalmuseum – Leibniz-Forschungsmuseum für Kulturgeschichte – in Nuremberg is the largest museum of cultural history in the German-speaking world. In 1992, Peter and Irene Ludwig entrusted the museum with some 1,500 prints by artists from the GDR on permanent loan.

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Oberhausen

LUDWIGGALERIE Schloss Oberhausen

The LUGWIGGALERIE is a museum that presents loans from all over the world in changing exhibitions and constantly draws attention to the works in the Ludwig Collection. The collector couple became involved with the museum in the early 1980s, initially focusing on art from the GDR.

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Offenbach

Klingspor-Museum

Founded in 1953 as a municipal museum in Offenbach am Main, the Klingspor-Museum is a museum of modern and contemporary book and typographic art. Since 1961, the museum has been part of the Ludwig network.

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Peking

Ludwig Museum for International Art in the Chinese National Museum (NAMOC)

The Ludwig Museum for International Art Beijing 1996 was founded on the basis of an agreement between the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese National Museum, and the collector couple.

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Saarlouis

Ludwig Galerie Saarlouis

The Ludwig Galerie in Saarlouis sees itself as a temporary museum, in which parts of the Ludwig Collection are regularly presented in changing exhibitions.

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St. Petersburg

Ludwig Museum at the State Russian Museum

The Ludwig Museum at the State Russian Museum was founded in 1994. The foundation is still connected to the museum in St. Petersburg through art, although due to the political situation, no further funding is currently being provided.

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Wien

Museum moderner Kunst – Stiftung Ludwig (mumok)

The museum moderner kunst stiftung ludwig wien—mumok for short—located in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier, is one of the leading museums of modern and contemporary art in Austria and Europe.

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Wien

Austrian Ludwig Foundation for Arts and Science

Since its inception in 1981, the Austrian Ludwig Foundation for Arts and Science has been dedicated to the promotion of art, culture, and education. The decisive factor was the donation of 128 works of art by Peter and Irene Ludwig, as well as the financial support of the Republic of Austria.

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