Art collections

The art collections of Münster University contain artworks of all genres from the Renaissance era up until today. There is a focus on akquisitions fro the 1950s and the 1960s, the years of the universities reconstruction after World War II and it's first expansion during the "Wirtschaftswunder". In these years the custom was still to decorate not only representational rooms but as well the offices of chair holding professors and of chief administrators with original artworks. In addition to this the "Kunst am Bau"-Regulation allowed to akquire many extraordinary pieces. Gifts of former members of the university, for example a group of portraits of former rectors, which were meant as the beginning of a portrait gallery, add the collections. Up to today the Universitätsgesellschaft Münster e.V. is an important benefactor of the universities art collections.

Generous loans from excellent art institutions like the Archiv für Künstlernachlässe of the Stiftung Kunstfonds and also from artists themselves make it possible to present superb examples of contemporary art on campus.