In 1976, private collectors Peter and Irene Lud­wig, alongside representatives from the City of Cologne, signed an agreement to develop Museum Ludwig which would house a donation of some 350 works of art from their private collection of modern art. This was the kick-start the museum needed, and over the years it attracted other donations and sought works for purchase to build it collections.

After her husband’s death in 2001, Irene Lud­wig do­nat­ed an ad­di­tio­n­al 774 works by Picasso catapulting the Museum into the heady ranks of housing the third largest col­lec­tion of Picasso’s works in the world.

Today, the museum houses an impressive collection of the most significant trends of twentieth-century and contemporary art including a focus on “pop art” including important pieces by Andy Warhol. At the time of our visit, we enjoyed viewing a special exhibition of the works of American-born, Pop artist James Rosenquist. The ex­hi­bi­tion pre­sents the artist’s rich­ly col­oured works to­gether with col­lages and archi­val ma­te­rials which served as the ba­sis for his of­ten monu­men­tal works.

Us in the Andy Warhol exhibition. From Left: Mr. Bob making his blogging debut, Mike and me taking the photograph that you’re looking at!

Works by Pop artist James Rosenquist who died in March 2017.