Terra Collection-in-Residence: Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig

The Museum der bildenden Künste (MdbK) Leipzig, located in Leipzig, Germany, and founded in 1848, encourages people to connect with each other, with the museum itself, and with art. The museum strives to create spaces for exchange and contemplation. The museum collection spans over seven centuries, drawn predominantly from European art history. Modern and contemporary art from Leipzig is a focus of the collection, connecting artistic production in the city with a global context.

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“Guest paintings can give new impulses, open visitors’ expectations, and connect the museum with the wider world.”

Stefan WeppelmannDirector, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig

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The Terra Foundation objects on loan create unexpected connections within the museum’s permanent collection and invite new engagement with local communities. The museum collaborates with local universities and art schools to develop classes around the works. Two paintings served as inspiration for a university class on women artists and representations of women. In preparation for an exhibition, museum curator Dr. Sabine Hoffmann co-taught a course with Prof. Dr. Nadja Horsch at the University of Leipzig’s Institute of Art History. Students learned about the phases involved in organizing an exhibition, including research, planning, and the preparation of labels and educational materials. Each student researched a single work, among a selection that included two works from the Terra Foundation in the exhibition entitled Role Models: Lilla Cabot Perry’s Self-portrait (c. 1889–96), and Dennis Miller Bunker’s The Mirror (1890). The exhibition opened in November 2024.

Images

An art gallery red wall with three different art pieces in a row, featuring two larger objects and a smaller object in between them. — William Merritt Chase's *Morning at Breakwater, Shinnecock* (c. 1897), installed alongside objects from the collection of the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig. Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig / Photo: PUNCTUM / Alexander Schmidt

The corner of an art gallery room with framed art objects on each side of the wall. — Dennis Miller Bunker's *The Mirror* (1890) installed alongside objects from the collection of the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig. Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig / Photo: PUNCTUM / Alexander Schmidt

An art gallery wall with three different art pieces on it, featuring two framed objects on each side and a head-shaped figure on a stand in the center. — Jamie Wyeth's *Kalounna in Frogtown* (1986), installed alongside objects from the collection of the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig. Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig / Photo: PUNCTUM / Alexander Schmidt

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“During the second year of Terra Collection-in-Residence, the museum continued to conduct more than 300 guided tours for school classes. The Terra Foundation loans are often part of these visits. In addition, there are also special thematic gallery talks. Because of the long-term presence of the Terra Foundation loans, the museum developed a series of talks to link European and American art,” said Stefan Weppelmann, Director, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig.

A large painting from the Terra Foundation collection by Jamie Wyeth, Kalounna in Frogtown (1986), has helped the museum and its audiences think about migration, inviting comparisons between histories and experiences of migration in the United States and the German Democratic Republic (the former East Germany) in the twentieth century.

Five paintings are on loan for a period of three years (July 2022–July 2025).