West Coast Art Collection

The main focus of Museum Kunst der Westküste is on paintings from 1830 until 1930 in the four North Sea countries of Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, to which the self-chosen general subject of “sea and seaside” is central. The collection concept encompasses the magnificent landscapes as well as the various areas of life and work along the west coast of the North Sea from northern Norway to the southern Netherlands.

 


The high-quality West Coast Art Collection focuses on painting from four of the littoral countries of the North Sea ‒ Norway, Denmark, North Germany and the Netherlands – in the period from 1830 to 1930. All of the artworks address the fascinating range of themes linked to “sea and seaside”. International contemporary art and photography, in particular, have also found their way into the collection.

 


Norwegian landscape painting is represented by works of, among others, Johan Christian Dahl and Edvard Munch, but also by paintings of German artists who, starting in the 1820s, discovered the “savage nature” of the country up North. Another focus is on the painters of the famous Skagen artists’ colony, including Anna and Michael Ancher, Peder Severin Krøyer, Viggo Johansen, and Christian Krohg. Of course, Northern German painting is not absent: the collection includes large bodies of work by Hans Peter Feddersen, the first painter to consider the North Frisian landscape worthy of depiction, and Otto H. Engel, his fellow artist from Berlin who with his paintings of Föhr women in traditional costumes and historical Frisian houses earned himself the reputation of being “the painter of Föhr”. Expressionist artists such as Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde, and Max Beckmann were also inspired by the German North Sea coast.

 


A special focus is on the German Impressionist Max Liebermann who, from the 1870s until the First World War, spent every summer in the Netherlands and whose works are a mainstay of the West Coast Art Collection. He is joined by Dutch fellow painters such as Henrik Willem Mesdag and Jozef Israëls as well as Piet Mondrian and Jan Toorop.

 


The collection also includes numerous works by contemporary artists such as Thomas Wrede, Jochen Hein, Nan Hoover, Joakim Eskildsen, Anja Jensen, Martin Parr, Gerhard Richter, Trine Søndergaard, Mila Teshaieva, and Volker Tiemann.

 


The West Coast Art Collection cannot be shown on a permanent basis and is therefore presented each year in shifting thematic constellations in temporary exhibitions.

Highlights from the Collection
Peder Severin Krøyer
Drei Fischer ziehen ein Boot
Peder Severin Krøyer
Drei Fischer ziehen ein Boot

1885

Öl auf Leinwand, 86 x 107,5 cm, Sammlung Kunst der Westküste, Foto: Helmut Kunde

Hans Peter Feddersen
Wattenmeer
Hans Peter Feddersen
Wattenmeer

1905

Öl auf Leinwand, 37 x 52 cm, Sammlung Kunst der Westküste

Max Liebermann
Zwei Reiter am Strand nach links
Max Liebermann
Zwei Reiter am Strand nach links

1910

Öl auf Leinwand

Sammlung Kunst der Westküste

Anja Jensen
Are
Anja Jensen
Are

2011

C-Print

Museum Kunst der Westküste, VG Bild-Kuns, Bonn 2021

Joakim Eskildsen
Skagen VIII
Joakim Eskildsen
Skagen VIII

2008

Fotografie

Sammlung Kunst der Westküste

Mila Teshaieva
Elisabeth
Mila Teshaieva
Elisabeth

2014

Baryta Art Print

Sammlung Kunst der Westküste

Erich Heckel
Meerlandschaft bei Ostende
Erich Heckel
Meerlandschaft bei Ostende

1917

Museum Kunst der Westküste, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2021

Nan Hoover
Flora
Nan Hoover
Flora

1986

Still aus der Videoarbeit Flora, Sammlung Kunst der Westküste

Jochen Hein
Nordsee
Jochen Hein
Nordsee

2003

Acryl auf jute teil 1, 3tlg. gesamt

Museum Kunst der Westküste