Brilliant Works
Light Art from the Marli Hoppe-Ritter Collection
19 October 2025 to 19 April 2026
Exhibition opening: Saturday, 18 October 2025, 5 p.m.
To mark its 20th anniversary, the museum is presenting a choice selection of light works from the Marli Hoppe-Ritter Collection. About 20 pieces from the early 1960s to the present day captivate through their sensuality and intriguing visual effects. They represent the ongoing interest artists show in the creative potential of light – because light is not only a medium but also a metaphor for seeing and understanding. It makes things visible and draws our gaze into the artwork, while simultaneously extending out into the surrounding space with its brilliance.
Art with and from light has developed into a focus in the collection over recent years. The collection also includes several historical examples of post-war light art, which reached its first peak in Europe around 1960 with movements such as ZERO in Düsseldorf, GRAV in France, and Arte Programmata in Italy. Inspired by a wind of change, progressive artists at that time increasingly harnessed the specific properties of light. By combining fluorescent tubes or lightbulbs with electric motors and industrially manufactured materials such as lenses, aluminium, corrugated glass or Plexiglas, they arrived at astonishing visual effects.
The artistic interest in light has not waned since that time. While some contemporary artists feature opulent plays of vibrant colours and create emotionally charged works that radiate atmospherically into space, others prefer the cool sensuality of white or bluish neon light. Some works fascinate with their changing hues or sophisticated illusions of depth, which are skilfully created by redirecting the light and combining the light it with mirrors. Other pieces do not even require their own light source. They are made of fluorescent acrylic glass which produces a magical glow under the influence of the light outside. It is above all these atmospheric qualities which make light a constantly fascinating material for art.
Participating Artists:
Werner Bauer, Angela Bulloch, Karl Gerstner, Christian Herdeg, Hans Kotter, Brigitte Kowanz, Heinz Mack, Yoshiyuki Miura, François Morellet, Maurizio Nannucci, Miriam Prantl, Betty Rieckmann, Annette Sauermann, Hans Schork, Regine Schumann, Paolo Scirpa, Grazia Varisco