Nordrhein-Westfalen Collection

Nordrhein-Westfalen Collection (Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen), Düsseldorf. Collection of 20th-century paintings founded in 1961 in Düsseldorf, capital of the Land (state) of Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) and opened to the public in 1965. It is unusual among collections in that it was founded by parliamentary decree and built up from scratch rather than developing by a process of organic growth. The decision to found it was taken after the regional government of Nordrhein-Westfalen bought 88 works by Paul Klee from an American private collection. ‘The acquisition of the Klee collection established the pattern of future purchasing in two respects. First, from the historical point of view, in that it was decided not to include any artists earlier than Klee's generation. The Impressionists and Fin-de-Siècle artists were excluded and, following what was in any case a clear arthistorical break at this time, the collection started with the Fauves, the Cubists, and the Expressionists. The precedent of the Klee pictures also established quality as the central concern of the collection. Indeed, quality is the sole criterion. All other factors—historical, national, regional, local—have been disregarded’ ( Werner Schmalenbach in the catalogue of the exhibition ‘Picasso to Lichtenstein: Masterpieces of Twentieth-Century Art from the Nordrhein-Westfalen collection in Düsseldorf', Tate Gallery, London, 1974).