Modernism describes a radical departure from the past and in art a completely new visual idiom. It spread to all spheres of culture and life at a time of significant change and social upheaval in the early twentieth century. Yet, even today, modern art history is still based on the work of white, Western European and North American artists. But how did artists from the black diaspora perceive, evolve, or consciously distance themselves from modernism?
This exhibition shows how modern art has developed in different communities and across places. Based on such movements as the Harlem Renaissance in the United States and Négritude in Europe, Along the Color Line traces the artistic relations between the transatlantic continents and explores their impact on art production today. Assembling works from the Museum Ludwig collection—in which non-European, non-white art is still underrepresented—with new acquisitions and loans, the exhibition presents visual artworks alongside the literature and music of the Black diaspora.
The show aims to reaffirm the founding mission of Museum Ludwig in our anniversary year of 2026—to highlight voices that have for too long gone unheard.
Curator: Eboa Itondo
