The Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen was founded in 1829 at a time when Dusseldorf was not merely the home of the Prussian provincial parliament, but was also a city undergoing a political and cultural awakening by virtue of the burgeoning Dusseldorf School of Painting and its concomitant status as an academy town. The first director of the Kunstverein was the Rector of the Dusseldorf Academy, the painter Willhelm von Schadow, who established the Kunstverein in a lively exchange with artists, citizens and the government in Berlin. The Verein’s goal was to be the sponsoring of contemporary art, as well as to support artists and disciples of art in their endeavours and in general to promote wider participation in all things beautiful.

Until the move into a permanent exhibition space, the Kunstverein was situated in the Dusseldorf Castle, in which the Academy was also situated during the 19th Century. The first annual exhibitions were to take place there. Activities such as the auctioning of artworks amongst members (as a forerunner of the present day annual edition) and the sponsoring of artworks for the public display also took place here during the Kunstverein’s first phase. The first members were from Germany, predominantly from the Rhinland and Westphalian area and were the sponsors and collectors of the Dusseldorf School of Painting supported by the Kunstverein. At the turn of the 19th Century the Verein boasted a membership of almost 14,000 and in cultural terms was considered to be an extraordinarily robust organization. Apart from the Kunstmuseum founded in 1919, the Kunstverein was–up until the 1960s–the only institution in Dusseldorf actually exhibiting art.

Alongside rotating exhibitions the profile of the Kunstverein is determined by the specific communication of the social relevance of contemporary art. This also includes the development of models, the redefining of the relationship between fine art and its viewership, as well as providing a commentary on the present day, its challenges and visions. The Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen offers numerous guided tours, talks, films, and symposia with a view to facilitating access to the world of contemporary art for members and visitors alike and to make productive use of its exhibitions.

In 2008, Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen founded a new project space called “Schaufenster” (display window) which is located in the adjacent pedestrian area. The “Schaufenster” is a platform for young art and offers international, barely or little known artists an opportunity to professionally present their works within an urban surrounding.

The project space strives to transform the traditional openness of the vitrified displays along urban streets into an open and experimental platform forming part of the institutional concept of Kunstverein: presentation, discussion and procurement of contemporary art. The solo presentations in “Schaufenster” are meant to give impulses and bring forward interexchange beyond regional and national borders.

Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen presents approximately 12 exhibitions each year.

Most outstanding projects in recent years:

Real Presences. Marcel Broodthaers today, 2010/11;

Florian Pumhšsl, 2010;

Ian Wallace, 2008/09;

Ulla von Brandenburg, 2008;

Palermo, 2007/08.

In addition to occasional catalogues to accompany exhibitions, the Kunstverein publishes its own magazine ‘Béton Brut’ twice a year (the title refers to the Kunstverein’s brutalist building from 1967). It mainly functions as a discursive platform to accompany our activities but also helps bond its members and keep them informed. All 3.800 members receive every issue for free; it’s also available at selected bookstores in Germany.

Since 1967 the Kunstverein and the Kunsthalle have shared the building situated on the in the centre of Dusseldorf. The cuboid design of the building made from prefabricated concrete blocks is an incisive example of brutalist architecture. The Kunstverein has use of a 360 sq metre hall in the upper storey with an adjacent foyer.