Moritzburg Foundation – Kunstmuseum of Saxony-Anhalt

The fortress of modernism

The art museum is situated inside a late 15^th-century fortress which once served as the residence of the Magdeburg archbishops. The Moritzburg suffered severe damage during the Thirty Years’ War but was later rebuilt and converted into a museum around 1900. In 2008 the Spanish architectural firm Nieto Sobejano designed a contemporary annex which spans the historic west and north wing of the fortress with a modern roof construction.

In the new exhibition rooms, the Moritzburg Foundation presents its high-quality collection of classical modernist works. These include several paintings from Lyonel Feininger’s Halle series, works of Expressionism (Brücke, Blauer Reiter), Constructivism (El Lissitzky) and New Objectivism, and further enriched by works from the ​“Brücke” painters on permanent loan from the Germann Gerlinger Collection.

The permanent exhibition in the new annex present works of art from 1945 to the present, while the 19^th-century pioneers of modernism are displayed in the historic south wing and medieval sculptures are presented in the Gothic vault of the fortress.