It all started in 2018 with water damage. The labyrinth, the most important and largest exhibition space on the island, had to be cleared and thoroughly renovated. The extensive work is now completed, and the over 400 pieces are back in their original place.
New in the building once erected by Erwin Heerich is a specially developed glass roof for Hombroich, which not only ensures high energy efficiency and protection but also provides warm, even daylight in all rooms. At the same time, the geothermal energy obtained on-site allows for a gentle climate control of the building. Good conditions for the partly freshly restored works. Among them are works by Lovis Corinth, Hans Arp, and Kurt Schwitters, by Jean Fautrier, Francis Picabia, and also by Gotthard Graubner, who once arranged the exhibition in the labyrinth exactly like this. For as museum founder Karl-Heinrich Müller decreed, Graubner's original arrangement from 1987 must be preserved as a total work of art.
In this context, the works of prominent Western artists repeatedly encounter non-European art and cultural objects, including a collection of archaeological finds from China and objects from Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Paintings by Kurt Schwitters from the first half of the 20th century, for example, meet torsos of the Khmer from the 10th to 11th century, as well as burial gifts from pre-Christian Chinese cultures. This repeatedly creates exciting dialogues across centuries and cultural spheres.
