Morsbroich Art Days — 75 Years Museum Morsbroich

75 Years Museum Morsbroich — One of the Oldest Museums for Contemporary Art

If you want to experience art and architecture in a baroque castle, Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen is one of the most atmospheric places in Germany. Founded in 1951, the museum was one of the first municipal museums for modern and contemporary art in Germany and remains one of the most distinctive institutions in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Its 75th birthday will be celebrated in May 2026 with the Morsbroich Art Days as a three-day open-air art festival.

Morsbroich Castle — Baroque Water Castle

Morsbroich Castle, an 18th-century baroque water castle, is located in the Schlebusch district on the right bank of the Rhine in Leverkusen. Originally a moated castle, then a noble residence, the estate was acquired by the City of Leverkusen in 1948 and opened as a museum in 1951. Today, the castle houses a significant collection of contemporary art — works by Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Rebecca Horn, Bridget Riley, and many others. The extensive castle park with its old trees provides an ideal open-air stage for art festivals, concerts, and performances.

Program of the Art Days 2026

The opening on Friday, May 8th, 2026, includes the exhibition opening by Belgian artist Katleen Vinck at Kunstverein Leverkusen and a Poetry Slam by Klub M (youth art club) starting at 8:30 PM. Saturday, May 9th, is the highlight day: Mischa Kuball will present a new edition at 6 PM. The anniversary auction for the museum begins at 7 PM. This will be followed by the cutting of the birthday cake and a historical play. At 10 PM, the main event will take place: Laurenz Theinert will perform his visual piano live on the castle facade — accompanied by cellist Fried Dähn. Sunday, May 10th, opens with the exhibition opening by KHM scholarship holder Helen Brecht, artist talks, family workshops (Hobby-Horsing, outdoor painting), and the presentation of the newly designed herb garden.

Free Admission — A Deliberate Gesture for the Anniversary

Unlike many museum festivals, admission to all events and exhibitions during the Art Days is free. This gesture is intended as a thank you to the citizens of Leverkusen and the supra-regional audience that has supported the museum for 75 years. The anniversary auction on Saturday, however, is ticketed — it is the most important fundraising event of the year and supports collection acquisitions and programming.

Mischa Kuball, Laurenz Theinert, Katleen Vinck — The Stars

Mischa Kuball is an internationally renowned conceptual artist from Cologne, known for his site-specific light and media installations (e.g., 'Doppelgänger' at the Kunsthalle Bonn, 'Public Preposition' at Documenta). Since the 1990s, Laurenz Theinert has been developing the concept of the visual piano — a keyboard whose keystrokes control not sounds, but projected images and light patterns. The live performance on Morsbroich Castle's facade is a unique event. Katleen Vinck from Antwerp creates sculptural wall works on the border between architecture and painting.

In the Rhineland Art Context

Museum Morsbroich is situated within the dense art landscape of NRW, between Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Museum Ludwig Cologne, Museum Folkwang Essen, Skulpturenpark Köln, and the Skulpturen-Triennale site in Bonn. Within this competitive environment, Morsbroich has carved out its niche as a castle museum with an experimental program. The 2026 Art Days highlight the institution with an ambitious festival format — clearly positioning it as a creative player in the cultural space on the right bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf.