Museum Jerke, Modern Polish art museum in Recklinghausen, Germany
Museum Jerke is an art museum in central Recklinghausen, Germany, housed in a three-story building with gray granite facades and dedicated entirely to modern Polish art. It holds a permanent collection alongside rotating exhibitions that cover different periods of Polish art history.
Werner Jerke, born in 1957 in Upper Silesia, moved to West Germany in 1981 and works as an ophthalmologist in Herten. He built the museum on the site of a demolished corner house; it opened on 24 April 2016. In 2014 he founded the Jerke Art Foundation gGmbH to secure the running of the museum and its restaurant.
The museum shows paintings, prints, and sculptures by Polish artists of the 20th century that are rarely seen in Germany. Walking through the rooms gives a direct sense of how Polish art developed across decades, from early avant-garde work to later positions.
The museum sits in central Recklinghausen and is easy to reach on foot from the main train station or by local bus. Checking the current opening hours before you go is a good idea, as they can vary depending on the exhibition program.
The museum's upper two floors hold rotating selections from Werner Jerke's private collection of over 600 works, including 1920s Polish avant-garde rarities by Katarzyna Kobro and Władysław Strzemiński. The ground floor houses a restaurant, and the Jerke Art Foundation gGmbH, founded in 2014, secures the operation of both.
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