Sprengel Museum, Modern art museum in Südstadt-Bult, Hannover, Germany
Sprengel Museum is an art museum in Hannover that focuses on modern and contemporary works. It presents painting, sculpture, photography, and other media through rotating exhibitions and a permanent collection.
Bernhard Sprengel donated his modern art collection to the city of Hanover in 1969 and helped fund the building, which opened in 1979. Designed by Peter and Ursula Trint with Dieter Quast, it was extended in 1992. The city and the state of Lower Saxony run the museum jointly.
The museum is named after Bernhard Sprengel, the chocolate manufacturer who donated his modern art collection to Hanover in 1969. Niki de Saint Phalle, made an honorary citizen of Hanover in 2000, gave 300 of her works the following year. Since 1993 the museum has housed the Kurt Schwitters Archive, whose Merz Room is a highlight.
The museum stands about 150 metres south of the Lower Saxony State Museum, beside the Maschsee lake in Hanover's Südstadt-Bult district. The 1979 building by Peter and Ursula Trint and Dieter Quast was extended in 1992; a further extension by Meili + Peter was planned from 2012. The Kurt Schwitters Archive and Merz Room are on site.
In 1988 the museum inherited the estate of the artist couple Robert Michel and Ella Bergmann-Michel, and it publishes a printed inventory of it, two volumes so far. Since 1993 it has housed the Kurt Schwitters Archive, whose Merz Room is a highlight. A monument in the collection depicts the crimes of serial killer Fritz Haarmann.
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