Join us in celebrating the first 100 days of the Museum Reinhard Ernst! Since our opening in June, we are proud to have become an international destination, attracting art and architecture enthusiasts from across the globe. Read more about the significant milestones we have reached so far and get an exclusive preview of the special exhibition highlight we have planned for 2025.
At a press conference held on 2nd October 2024, marking the first 100 days since the opening of the Museum Reinhard Ernst, Director Dr Oliver Kornhoff and museum founder Reinhard Ernst shared an overwhelmingly positive report. From 23rd June to 30th September 2024, the museum welcomed approximately 60,000 art and architecture enthusiasts from over 20 countries. Furthermore, during this time, around 17,000 visitors engaged in nearly 700 guided tours.
Germany, Europe, overseas: visitors came from all over the world. European guests primarily travelled from France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland, according to Oliver Kornhoff. Visitors from overseas hailed from Asia, South America, New Zealand, and the United States.
In the mornings until 12 p.m., the mre is exclusively open for school groups and educational institutions. From 23rd June to 30th September 2024, 100 educational guided tours were offered, with 1,531 participants. Many groups took advantage of this offering before the summer holidays, ranging from kindergartens and elementary students to vocational schools and secondary school students. Even after the summer break, demand remains high. The morning slots are fully booked until December, with an average of three to four groups visiting each morning in the new school year.
“The museum has quickly become a major attraction in Wiesbaden,” said art collector and museum founder Reinhard Ernst. “What delights my wife and me the most is that so many young people are visiting the museum. Engaging with art unleashes creativity and fosters interconnected thinking—skills that can never be developed too early. They later help in careers to make connections and find innovative solutions. The combination of world-class architecture, a previously unseen collection of international abstract art, unique educational programs, and outstanding culinary offerings has won over our visitors.”
Director Dr Oliver Kornhoff added: “The first three months have flown by. We are thrilled by the positive feedback from museum colleagues both domestically and internationally. This time has been crucial for my team and me to gather experience: in the first 100 days, we have gotten to know our visitors and their needs. We’ve also used this time to optimize operations, especially on busy days. This period has been incredibly motivating for everyone on the team,” he explained.
2025 Special Exhibitions: A Focus on Helen Frankenthaler
In 2025, the Museum Reinhard Ernst will spotlight Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011). Over the years, Reinhard Ernst has amassed the world’s largest private collection of her paintings, featuring nearly fifty masterpieces from the 1950s to the 1990s. Beginning in March 2025, the museum will host an extensive special exhibition dedicated to the American artist. The mre will display Frankenthaler’s large-scale works across four exhibition halls, many of which have never been shown in Germany before. This will be the first major solo exhibition of Frankenthaler’s large-scale canvas paintings in Germany in nearly 25 years. Additionally, Helen Frankenthaler’s works will continue to be featured as part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Curator Lea Schäfer is particularly looking forward to this exhibition “because it will connect various creative phases of the artist to showcase the innovation and richness of her art, providing an immersive experience of Frankenthaler’s deep engagement with colour and form, which had a lasting influence on abstract painting in the second half of the 20th century.”
Are you curious to discover our new museum and experience Abstract Art from a new angle? Find an overview of our current exhibitions here.
