Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

In 1961, the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia acquired altogether 88 works by Paul Klee, which form the foundation of the museum’s collection. Celebrated in 1986 was the inauguration of the newly-constructed building of the Kunstsammlung am Grabbeplatz, with its characteristic black granite façade. Working in the tradition of Arne Jacobsen, the Copenhagen architectural office of a Dissing + Weitling created a noble, restrained building whose detailing is typical of the period, and which yielded primacy to the outstanding works of art on display. Inaugurated in July 2010 together with the reopening of the totally renovated existing building is an additional exhibition area measuring 2000 m², which features state-of-the-art exhibition technology and takes the form of two pillar-free exhibition halls – thereby bringing the total surface area to 5000 m².