Download

Download

Welcome to the press service area, where you can download copyright-protected image material in print quality. Please use all images provided for download only in the context of current reporting on the Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR and follow the instructions for use when publishing.

Please note that some press photos are saved in a password-protected area due to their rights requirements. The photo material is free of charge in the context of current reporting. We would be pleased to receive a reference copy for our media review.

Please register here for accreditation

Hypercreatures – Future Mythologies

March 22 until October 5, 2025

Max Ernst used scalpel and scissors to dissect images of human and non-human bodies and to assemble them into new beings in his surrealistic collages. With a view to societal changes and current developments in science and technology, the international group exhibition presents visions of mixed beings that combine elements of humans, animals, machines or plants, and thus providing impetus for the development of new shared narratives.
In a dialogue process with works by Max Ernst, around 20 contemporary artists are asking themselves how the role of humans can be rethought in the face of acute global crises. The Hypercreatures exhibition with international positions from the fields of sculpture, painting and collage as well as video and media art (gaming, VR) can be seen from 22 March to 5 October 2025.

Online Press Kit HYPERCREATURES (PDF, 882 KB)

Preview 2025

Press release Preview 2025 and Frauke Dannert – Desert After Rain (PDF, 355 KB)

Farah Ossouli – New Perspectives in the Leonora Carrington Hall
June 27 until October 5, 2025

Farah Ossouli is one of the first artists to engage with classical Persian miniature painting and reinterpret it within a contemporary context through her own visual language. She interweaves references from both Persian and European art and cultural history into symbolically charged images that poetically center feminist themes.

For her exhibition at the Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR, Farah Ossouli has created a new 15-part series of works. The title, Remember the Flight, the Bird Will Die, is taken from a poem by Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad (1935–1967). The series also connects with Max Ernst’s socially critical collage novel Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness, 1934). A recurring motif in Ossouli's series is hair, which she stages as a multifaceted symbol pointing to femininity, intimacy, and vulnerability, as well as societal power structures, control, and political oppression.

FRAUKE DANNERT – DESERT AFTER RAIN

New Perspectives in the Leonora Carrington Hall
November 29, 2024 until March 9, 2025

The Desert After Rain exhibition in the Leonora Carrington Hall presents works on paper and canvas as well as wall paintings of the artist Frauke Dannert, who lives and works in Cologne.

Frauke Dannerts (born 1979 in Herdecke) creative manner of expression is based on the technique of collage, which she uses in her graphic and painting works in diverse and exciting ways. The exhibition title is a poetic reference to the artistic work of Max Ernst. Inspired by the fantastic landscape spaces and the wealth of forms in his work, Frauke Dannert has created new series of work especially for the exhibition.

Press release Frauke Dannert – Desert After Rain and Preview 2025 (PDF, 355 KB)

COLLECTION

The Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR is the only museum dedicated to the life and work of the seminal artist, image poet, and cosmopolitan Max Ernst (1891–1976). The collection spans 70 years of one of the most important, versatile, and fascinating artists of the 20th century. Numerous paintings, drawings, frottages, and collages let visitors immerse themselves in the fantastic worlds of Max Ernst’s images and demonstrate his boundless inventiveness. Visitors can also look forward to seeing a unique collection of more than 70 bronze castings and sculptures. Another heart piece of the collection are the 36 "D-paintings".These works were originally painted as gifts to the artist’s fourth wife, Dorothea Tanning – a fellow artist who was a part of his life for more than three decades.

NOTES ON THE USE OF PRESS IMAGES FOR THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

Please take note of the image details and photo credits when publishing. We would be pleased to receive a reference copy for our media review.