Around 120 works by around 75 artists told of the new beginning in the 1950s after the end of the war, of the return of many artists to the modernism of the 1920s, of tendencies towards reduction to the essentials and of the desire to create and develop. The selection of works reflected the focal points of the collection: constructive and concrete art, object art with different materials, photography and light art.
The “Collection Meeting Point” invited visitors to a new form of encounter with contemporary art: In the showrooms, artistic pairings came together for a vis-a-vis beyond art-historical pigeonholes. Two works at a time, linked by form, color, aesthetics or an artistic technique, by questions about the existential conditions of life, from physics to emotion, entered into an open dialogue.
Themed rooms in the museum's villa illustrated the main artistic developments or familiarized visitors with individual positions. Beginning in the 1950s, paintings showed the forms of abstraction typical of this period. Basic principles such as stability and balance, gravity and lightness were explored in sculpture and drawing. Light has inspired artists throughout the ages. A separate room was dedicated to the Krefeld light artist Adolf Luther. Further positions in light art were presented in the salon. Monochrome and the serial are explored in their own rooms.
