Museum

The Museum Ludwig’s permanent collection represents the most important modern trends from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present.

Discover highlights from our collection virtually

Click here to access the research database on the Museum Ludwig’s collection.

The Museum Ludwig has one of Europe’s largest and most significant collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century photography.

The con­tem­po­rary art in the stair­well and on the base­ment lev­el forms the back­bone and foun­da­tion of the mu­se­um, look­ing in­to the past and the fu­ture.

From Picasso’s "Harlequin" to Roy Lichtenstein’s "M-Maybe" and Gerhard Richter’s "Ema": an overview of the collection’s highlights.

Which artworks and collection areas are currently on view? You’ll find an overview here.

This year the Museum Ludwig is offering a digital program for the European Day of Conservation-Restoration for one month.

Preserving the collection of the Museum Ludwig for future generations is the task of our conservation workshop.

The Kunst- und Museumsbibliothek is one of the largest public libraries for modern art and photography in the world.

Ca­t­a­logue "Fluxus and Beyond: Ursula Burghardt, Benjamin Patterson", edit­ed by Bar­bara En­gel­bach and con­tain­ing con­tri­bu­tions by Yil­maz Dziewior, Bar­bara En­gel­bach, ju­lia el­iz­a­beth neal, and Kathrin Rott­mann, (ca. 280 pages with nu­mer­ous il­lus­tra­tions, Ger­man/En­glish; Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-7533-0690-2), € 34,80

Catalogue "Roni Horn: Give Me Paradox or Give Me Death", ed. by Yilmaz Dziewior; with text contributions by Yilmaz Dziewior, Zoë Lescaze, Andrew Maerkle, Isabel de Naverán, and Kerstin Stakemeier; German/English. Hardcover, 312 pages, 21.5 × 27.5 cm, approx. 180 col. ill., Steidl Verlag, ISBN 978-3-96999-379-8, € 38.

Ca­t­a­logue "1000... MILES TO THE EDGE - KASPER KÖNIG DO­NA­TION" - edit­ed by Stephan Died­erich. Köln 2023/24. con­tri­bu­tions by Anne Nier­mann. with a talk be­tween Yil­maz Dziewior & Kasper König. 124 pages, with 109 im­ages, Ger­man/En­glish, Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, Köln, ISBN 978-3-7533-0585-1, € 19,80

Catalogue, edit­ed by Bar­bara En­gel­bach and Emre Baykal, with con­tri­bu­tions by Merve Yeşi­la­da Çağlar, Yil­maz Dziewior, Bar­bara En­gel­bach und Emre Baykal, Süreyyya Evren, Fü­sun Onur, Nilüfer Şaş­maz­er, Ger­man/En­glish, part­ly Turk­ish, de­sign by Esen Karol, Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, Köln, ISBN 978-3-7533-0557-8, € 34,80

Ca­t­a­logue, edit­ed by Yuliia Berdiiaro­va and Ri­ta Ker­st­ing, with text con­tri­bu­tions by Kon­s­tantin Akin­sha, Yuliia Berdiiaro­va, Ka­tia Denyso­va, Yil­maz Dziewior, Tetya­na Filevs­ka and Ania Kołyszko, Ger­man/En­glish, part­ly Ukrai­nian, ap­prox. 214 pages, Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-7533-0492-2, € 29,80

Ca­t­a­logue, ed. by Stephan Died­erich, with con­tri­bu­tions by Pa­tri­cia Allmer, Stephan Died­erich, Yil­maz Dziewior, He­le­na Kuhl­mann, Chus Martínez, El­iz­a­beth A. Povinel­li, Ger­man/En­glish, ca. 390 pages, ca. 260 col­or ills., Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-7533-0405-2, Eu­ro 38

Ca­t­a­logue edit­ed by Joanne Ro­driguez, with text con­tri­bu­tions by Ochy Curiel, Yil­maz Dziewior, Ele­na Rosau­ro and Sarah Fa­ti­ma Schütz, Ger­man/En­glish, part­ly Span­ish, ap­prox. 224 pages, Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-7533-0491-5, € 29,80

Ca­t­a­­logue ed­it­ed by Fa­bienne Eggel­höfer, Ri­ta Ker­st­ing und Flo­rence Os­tende, with con­tri­bu­tions by Dakin Hart, Fa­bienne Eggel­höfer, Ri­ta Ker­st­ing & Na­na Tazuke-Steiniger, Flo­rence Os­tende and a con­ver­sa­tion be­tween Karen L. Ishizu­ka, Ka­ty Siegel, Danh Vō, and De­vi­ka Singh, Ger­man and En­glish edi­tions, 304 p., ca. 350 ill., Pres­tel Ver­lag 45 EUR (book­s­tore, hard­cov­er), 35 EUR (mu­se­um, pa­per­back).

Ca­t­a­logue edit­ed by Ju­lia Frie­drich, with con­tri­bu­tions by Ém­i­lie Bou­vard, Hu­bert Brie­den, Yil­maz Dziewior, Ber­nard Eisen­s­chitz, Ju­lia Frie­drich, Sarah Jo­nas, Gün­ter Jor­dan, There­sa Nis­ters, Boris Po­fal­la, Ste­fan Rip­plinger, Ge­org Seeßlen, Thorsten Sch­nei­der, and Iliane Thie­mann, Ger­man/En­glish, 248/252 pages. 266 col­or il­lus­tra­tions, 22 x 28 cm, Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, Cologne. 24.80 EUR (re­tail), 24 EUR (mu­se­um). ISBN 978-3-7533-0066-5 (Ger­man edi­tion), ISBN 978-3-7533-0067-2 (En­glish edi­tion).

Ca­t­a­logue ed­it­ed by Ela Kaçel and Bar­bara En­gel­bach, with texts by Yil­­maz Dziewior, Ela Kaçel, and Bar­bara En­gel­bach, as well as nu­mer­ous ex­­tracts from in­­ter­views, Ger­­man/En­glish, 21 × 21 cm, 304 pages, 230 il­lus­­tra­­tions, Ver­lag der Buch­hand­lung Walther und Franz König, ISBN 978-3-7533-0038-2, €25

Ca­t­a­logue edit­ed by Yil­maz Dziewior & Gre­gor Muir. Cologne/Lon­don, 2020/21. With con­tri­bu­tions by Ken­neth Brum­mel, Stephan Died­erich, Die­drich Died­erich­sen, Olivia Laing, Fion­tán Mo­ran, Gre­gor Muir, Char­lie Porter & Mar­tine Syms. 21,9 x 28,9 cm. 224 pages, ISBN: 978-3960987628, price: 38 eu­ros

The concept of transcorporeality (Stacy Alaimo) builds on the thesis that all bodies are permeable, open-ended systems in constant exchange with their environment and other biological, technological, economic, and sociopolitical realities. With works by Jesse Darling, Flaka Haliti, Trajal Harrell, Paul Maheke, Nick Mauss, Park McArthur, Oscar Murillo, and Sondra Perry, Transcorporealities critically examines the permeability of bodies—including the museum—at the interfaces between subject, object, and space. It focuses on urgent (institutional) questions of visibility and accessibility as well as the possibilities and limits of representation: What is inscribed and attributed to bodies? Who is looking at whom? What is meant when we say “we” and “they”?
„HERE AND NOW at Museum Ludwig: Transcorporealities“, exhibition catalogue. Museum Ludwig, Cologne 2019/2020, ed. Leonie Radine, with contributions by Stacy Alaimo, Park McArthur, Leonie Radine and Nora Sternfeld and a foreword by Yilmaz Dziewior, 236 pages, museum price: 25 eu­­ros; retail price: 29,80 euros, texts in German and English, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Cologne 2020

"Sisi in Private: The Empress’s Photo Album", with texts by Miriam Szwast and Olivia Gruber Florek, stapled, 14.8 x 21 cm, 54 pages, 15 illustrations, English edition, ISBN 978-3-9821480-5-2. Price: 8 euros.

Orders via @buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de.

Buch­hand­lung Walther König, in Ger­man and En­glish, ISBN 978-3-96098-897-7, 29,80 eu­­ros (re­­tail price), 25 eu­­ros (mu­se­um price), ed. Ri­­ta Ker­st­ing and Pe­­tra Mandt with texts by Ak­in­sha, Fried­erike Gräfin von Brühl & Ruth Lech­er, Meike Deil­­mann, Yil­­maz Dziewior, Ri­­ta Ker­st­ing, Maria Kokko­ri and Pe­­tra Mandt.

Orders via: @buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de.

On the occasion of this major retrospective, the Museum Ludwig published a catalogue raisonné of the artist's solo exhibitions with illustrations of all the works on view, accompanied by short texts and room layouts: "WADE GUYTON MCMXCIX–MMXIX ZWEI DEKADEN MUSEUM LUDWIG", with texts by Johanna Burton, Michelle Kuo, Kerstin Stakemeier, and a conversation between Yilmaz Dziewior and Wade Guyton, 584 pages, around 1,900 color illustrations, 24.8 × 29.2 cm, in German and English, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 65 euros (retail price), 54 euros (museum price).

Family, kin, clan, clique, coterie, fandom, elective affinity, alliance, collaboration, network. These forms of social structures are reflected in the materials assembled in this catalogue: invitation cards, flyers, fanzines, journals, and texts from the 1990s and 2000s. Documents arranged chronologically on a timeline offer insight into developments in visual art at the time in Cologne and New York. Selected historical essays and reviews reflect virulent theoretical debates, interspersed with references to socio-political events and influential exhibitions.

An ex­hi­bi­tion ca­t­a­logue was pub­lished by Hirmer Ver­lag. With texts by Yil­maz Dziewior, Bar­bara En­gel­bach, and Ben­jamin Katz, 160 pages, 73 il­lus­tra­tions, in Ger­man and En­glish, €22 (re­tail price), €20 (mu­se­um price).