Museum Kurhaus Kleve

On the Lower Rhine, near the Tiergartenwald and the parklands of Prinzen Moritz von Nassau-Siegen, Museum Kurhaus Kleve occupies a neoclassical former spa house as an exhibition venue for art from the Middle Ages to the present.

The history of the building goes back to the time when Kleve, known as "Bad Cleve", operated as a spa: a mineral-rich spring was discovered in 1742, a drinking hall was built in the mid-18th century, and a park with an amphitheatre shaped the ensemble. Destruction in 1794 interrupted the spa operations for a long time. From the mid-19th century new construction phases and extensions began; until the First World War the promenade hall and the spa hotel formed a unified Kurhaus. War and economic change brought an end to its use as a spa; industrial uses and decay alternated. In the 1950s and 1960s initial restoration measures were undertaken, and parts of the building served as Joseph Beuys’s studio between 1958 and 1964.

Since 1997 the Kurhaus has served as the municipal museum; the completion of the Joseph-Beuys-Westflügel in 2012 marked the conclusion of further restorations and redesigns. The ground floor houses the former studio rooms, the upper floor contains former classrooms and additional collection rooms; in the basement a graphic cabinet was created.

The institution preserves significant holdings: the estate collection of the sculptor and painter Ewald Mataré, extensive holdings of modern and contemporary art, and medieval and Renaissance sacred art. The exhibits include oak wood sculptures around 1500, panel paintings by Lucas Cranach dem Älteren and works by Dutch and Rhenish masters. Modern art is represented by works of the Rheinische Expressionisten, conceptual and land-art positions, and central works by Joseph Beuys, including the four-part photographic work Ohne Titel (Mein Kölner Dom, 1980).

The graphic collection comprises medieval miniatures, historic garden engravings, works of Art Informel and printmaking up to the present; a surprising discovery was a trial print of a woodcut by Albrecht Dürer. The holdings are complemented by a collection of French Art Nouveau glass and a substantial collection of ceramics from 1905–1935 with selected pieces by artists and workshops of that period.