History

Visitors to Hünfeld cannot escape modern art. The Museum of Modern Art in Hünfeld has been in existence since 1990 – the former gasworks of the town of Hünfeld, an Art Nouveau building dating from 1907. With its combination of Art Nouveau buildings, gasometers, and modern exhibition halls, the Museum of Modern Art offers a unique ambience with over 1,000 square meters of exhibition space. The extensive outdoor area with a former railway embankment at the rear of the main building is used as a sculpture garden.

The Museum of Modern Art houses an extensive art collection that the museum's founder and artist Jürgen Blum (1933-2015) assembled over many years. The museum's permanent exhibition displays works from the extensive “Jürgen Blum Collection” throughout the year, ranging from concrete art to renowned representatives of constructivism and concrete poetry. As an exciting contrast to the foundation's exhibition, the Museum of Modern Art presents several changing exhibitions of contemporary art in other styles each year.

Art and culture have become a hallmark of the town of Hünfeld. Large-scale sculptures catch the eye even on the approach roads. Jürgen Blum's tireless work has resulted in extraordinary works and projects such as “Das Offene Buch” (The Open Book). On around 140 house walls in Hünfeld, you encounter visual poems on your way to work, while strolling through the city, or on a walk—a new form of art in public spaces, an urban museum. 

Blum also brought international artist colleagues to Hünfeld, who in turn left special works in the city and in the museum. He tirelessly organized exhibitions and other concepts. On his initiative, a painting school was established in Hünfeld and the IDEA Art Association Hünfeld was founded, which to this day unites art lovers and artists in his spirit.

It was always a particular concern of Jürgen Blum to offer a forum to young, often still unknown artists. The “Stiftung Museum Modern Art Hünfeld – Sammlung Jürgen Blum” (Hünfeld Museum of Modern Art Foundation – Jürgen Blum Collection) is committed to this legacy. It was not important to Blum whether these artists were involved in concrete and constructive art. What was important to him was the quality of their work.

After more than 30 years of Museum Modern Art, the aim is to make the collection accessible to an interested public and, above all, to invite artists to Hünfeld who, with their works, repeatedly engage in a stimulating dialogue with the Blum Collection. 

About the artist and curator Jürgen Blum

„I am not interested in plastic expression in art, nor in theme and content. I do not invent new forms or evoke feelings. I create states of exception based on unimaginable existences that envelop my body, and I work with the concepts of mystery, deception, and transparency. I write the date of creation inside my objects so that each one represents its own temporal energy up to the present moment.“

Gerhard Jürgen Blum-Kwiatkowski was born in Faulen (East Prussia) in 1933. From 1952 to 1957, he studied constructive design and art philosophy, after which he became the initiator and founder of eight art stations as well as the organizer of international exhibitions and symposia in 1956. In 1990, Blum founded and directed the Museum of Modern Art in Hünfeld, which houses a collection of concrete art. His work themes and theories included “The Right of Form Construction and Organic Matter,” “Finiteness,” and “Visual Sound.”

In 2011, he received the Medal of Honor from the city of Hünfeld and in 2012 the Federal Cross of Merit for his outstanding work as an artist, art organizer, and museum director. 

Jürgen Blum died in Hünfeld on August 15, 2015.