Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Art museum in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
The Wilhelm-Hack-Museum is a museum of modern and contemporary art in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. Its cubic upper building rises above a lower white structure with glass doors; the southeast side carries Joan Miró's ceramic wall of 7,200 tiles, 55 metres wide and ten metres high. Inside, temporary exhibitions occupy the lower level and the collection is shown on several upper levels.
The city of Ludwigshafen began buying art after World War I, focusing on local painters, and from 1953 on Expressionists condemned as "degenerate" under Nazism. In July 1971 the council accepted merchant Wilhelm Hack's bequest, which included the Gondorfer Fund and classical modernist works, and committed to building a museum bearing his name. Stuttgart architects Hagstotz and Kraft won the 1972 competition; construction started in May 1975 and the museum opened on 28 April 1979.
The museum displays works by artists such as Robert Delaunay and Wassily Kandinsky that shaped abstract art's development. The collection shows how artistic movements changed how people saw form and color in the 20th century.
The museum stands in the city centre, with a glass entrance door at street level and no stairway or heavy portal at the entrance. Inside, temporary exhibitions occupy the lower level, while the collection is shown on several upper levels linked by galleries, bridges, windows and stairs. The building was renovated from April 2008 to February 2009 with a photovoltaic system, new climate control and new lighting.
The Miró wall on the south-east side measures 55 metres wide and ten metres high, making it one of Joan Miró's largest works and the biggest artwork in Ludwigshafen. The building plan already reserved this facade for an oversized artwork. Miró designed it with ceramicist Joan Gardy-Artigas, who carried out the technical execution; it was completed in early 1980.
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