Ludwig Museum for International Art, Beijing
The most recent museum foundation initiated by Irene and Peter Ludwig took place in November 1996 with the founding of the "Ludwig Museum for International Art Beijing“, based on an agreement drawn up between the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese National Museum and the collectors Irene and Peter Ludwig. In March 1996, shortly before his untimely death, Peter Ludwig initialled the official contract personally.
The "China National Museum of Fine Arts“ (Chinese National Museum) comes directly under the aegis of the Chinese Minister for Culture. The main building is among the ten most important structures erected in the first decade following the establishment of the People’s Republic. Located in the centre of Beijing on Wangfujing, one of the city’s principal traffic arteries, the museum has typical Chinese architecture with sweeping roofs and yellow-glazed pantiles.
Since its opening in 1963, the museum has enabled public access to a series of masterpieces by both Chinese and foreign artists. Exhibitions on special themes have been arranged on a regular basis to promote international cultural exchange and cooperation.
The museum collects and conserves artworks that represent the nation. A primary focus of the collection is formed by those works of art produced since the May Revolution of 1919. At the same time, the museum also collects older paintings and international works of art.
The collectors Irene and Peter Ludwig donated a significant number of international works of art to the museum, which resulted in the foundation of the "Ludwig Museum of International Art“ within the museum’s premises. In order to conserve and collect works of art, a new, more functional warehouse was built, which has been in operation since 1998. In 2002 and 2003 the "China National Museum of Fine Arts" was fundamentally renovated and extended. Since July 2003 the building is again opened for visitors.
The China National Museum of Fine Arts continues to play a significant role in the international exchange of artefacts between the East and the West. On an international level, exhibitions have been organized with well-known foreign museums and collections. During the past few years, for example, there have been exhibitions focusing on the works of Picasso, Rodin, Marc Chagall and Joan Miro. In this context, the donation of 89 works of international contemporary art from Eastern and Western Europe, as well as from the United States, is of particular importance for the Chinese capital.
Thus, since 1996, numerous names of international reputation, including Georg Baselitz, Gerhard Richter, Nancy Graves, Renato Guttuso, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Anselm Kiefer, Roy Lichtenstein, Natalia Nesterowa, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Tom Wesselmann, to name a few only, have been associated with the Chinese National Museum.
Since December 1999, the art works from the donation to the "Ludwig Museum for International Art“ in the Chinese National Museum have been touring through various provinces in China. The first venue was at the Liu Hai Su Art Museum in Shanghai, followed by the Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangdong, then Macao, and finally Chengdu. Further exhibitions are planned.
Ludwig Museum for International Art
National Art Museum of China
Mr. Fan Di´an
Director
1, Wusi Dajie
Beijing 100010 / China
Fax: +86 1064034953
