Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art has a selected and dynamically expanding collection, at the core of which is a donation by Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig. Its collection comprising artworks from the sixties until today, some of them always on display, the museum has a circle of international art collectors as its partners.
Upon the founding of Ludwig Museum in 1989, Peter and Irene Ludwig donated seventy high-value artworks representing international tendencies in the art of the period from the ‘60s through the ‘80s. In 1991 these were followed by 95 pieces for long-term deposit. When the Museum of Contemporary Art was established in 1996, several new artworks were acquired by the museum, illustrating the tendencies of the ‘90s, with special regard to new generations emerging after the regime-change. The progressive Hungarian art of the ‘60s-‘70s is represented through select artworks mainly in parallel with international tendencies. What makes this collection especially noteworthy is its Central- and Eastern European character: the art of a region with peculiar historical and cultural context is emphatically represented through the works of Hungarian, Slovakian, Polish, Romanian and ex-Yugoslav artists.
Owing to the continued acquisitions throughout the past decades, in 2023, Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art boasts 1021 artworks and several hundred deposits, part of which are on display at the permanent exhibition. The entire collection is on view in the online database. The acquisition of 20-30 pieces a year is made possible by various grants, mainly through the National Cultural Fund as well as the sponsorship of the Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung.
Our selections
Place Value – New Acquisitions
Read moreThis selection mainly includes works that have been acquired – purchased with the help of the NKA colleges, deposited by the Ludwig Stiftung in Aachen, or donated by artists and art collectors – over the last 7–8 years and only those that have not been shown in our permanent and temporary exhibitions before, thus providing the public with a sense of novelty.
Ideals and Artworks
Read moreThe exhibition Ideals and Artworks gives insight into the recent past and contemporary art of Hungary through primarily photo- and multimedia-based works, often involving the figure of the artist. The exhibition was on display in the National Gallery of Tirana in 2016.
Techniques of Evasion – Subversive strategies in the Hungarian Neo-Avant-Garde of the 1960s and '70s
Read moreThe exhibition Techniques of Evasion presented a selection from the collection of the Ludwig Museum based on the works of Hungarian artists of the 1960s and '70s. It was on display in Rome in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome from October 4, 2019 until January 6, 2020
THE DEAD WEB – THE END | exhibition online
Read moreHow will the at once dematerialized and delocalized dynamics of power structures be impacted in both their evident economic and inevitably political manifestations if the network is disconnected? But also, what can still be said or done in the meantime? How does one occupy—or not— what is essentially borrowed time and space, a space-time henceforth to be shared between digital and physical realities.
Concept Art
Read moreArt movement from the late sixties to the mid-seventies that puts the idea, thought and theory before (or in the place of) creating the artwork.
New acquisitions
Read moreA selection from the artworks added to the collection in 2016-2017 by purchase, donation, and as a long-term deposit of Ludwig Stiftung.
Related contents
Collection Care and Conservation
The Collection Care and Conservation Department is responsible for the management and preservation of the museum’s collection as well as the publication of research results in the field.
Archive
Established in January 2009, the Archive is the youngest department of Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art. The Archive’s mission is to collect, process and make accessible for research relevant documents as well as photos, sound and film recordings with archival subjects connected with the museum’s pursuit and collection.
Publications
Ludwig Museum regularly publishes catalogues, booklets and program flyers related to permanent and temporary exhibitions.
