Bernhard Sprengel Foundation Collection and the Friends of the Sprengel Museum Hannover

In 1982, Bernhard Sprengel established the Bernhard Sprengel Foundation Collection with 47 works of art which he had collected after 1970, including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Fernand Léger, Henri Laurens, Julio Gonzalez and Eduardo Chillida. The foundation strives to continue Bernhard and Margrit Sprengel’s support for the arts; in 1969, they donated their considerable collection of classical Modern art to the city of Hanover. This set the ball rolling for the establishment of the museum and still guides its priorities. Since 1996, members of the “Friends of the Sprengel Museum Hannover e.V.”, which was founded in 1980, have been donating their works of art to the organisation. Since the two organisations fused, they have become known as the Bernhard Sprengel Foundation Collection and the Friends of the Sprengel Museum Hannover. The foundation has facilitated the procurement of works of art by Dieter Roth, Wolfgang Laib, Horst Antes, Per Kirkeby, Bruce Nauman, Wolfgang Tillmans as well as other, substantial additions to the museum’s collection, especially those classified as contemporary art. Previous to this, the “Friends of the Museum” had acquired 25 works by artists, such as Georg Baselitz, Mimmo Paladino, A. R. Penck and James Turrell, and given these as gifts to the museum. Currently, the organisation has 84 works of art at the museum.

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Sprengelfreunde