English

5.4. TO 20.7.25Frida Orupabo, Sandwoman, 2022, collage, Foto: Michal Brzezinski; © The Artist; Courtesy of the Artist and Modern Art, London

The SPECTRUM International Prize for Photography of the Lower Saxony Foundation has been awarded to outstanding contemporary photographic artists since 1994. It honors photographic positions that have made or are making an outstanding contribution to the history of artistic photography.

Frida Orupabo's work deals with extremely brutal aspects of human civilization: Black people's experiences of violence, the past and present of racism and misogyny are her central themes. It was precisely these themes that the daughter of Norwegian-Nigerian parents had identified as blind spots in the visual tradition of the existing visual worlds in Europe. She searched in vain for possible offers of identification and representations of her own perception of the world and world of experience. She began to examine the representations of Black people present on the Internet: Who is looking at whom? Who looks back and how? What does this tell us about power and the abuse of power? And how can these testimonies of tyranny be countered?

Frida Orupabo overwrites these “blind spots” of history with painfully poetic montages and collages of existing images and image fragments. The fragility of the papers and their apparent placelessness in the exhibition spaces convey the homeless fragility of the maltreated bodies. In addition, she shows her own, now extensive archives of depictions of Black people in video works. Today, the self-taught artist is one of the most influential artists of her generation.

The SPECTRUM Prize, endowed with 15,000 euros, is accompanied by a major exhibition at the Sprengel Museum Hannover and an artist's book and is unique in this form in Germany.

UNTIL 27.7.25Conservator Eliza Reichel at work - here she is conserving a work for the exhibition "Niki. Kusama. Murakami. Love You For Infinity", which opens its doors to the public on September 6, 2025. Photo: Sarah Jade, Sprengel Museum Hannover

The exhibition provides an insight into the work of the conservators at the Sprengel Museum Hannover. Visitors learn about the challenges of restoration: Which materials age particularly quickly? When is the deterioration of a work intentional, when does intervention have to be made? How do environmental influences affect art? The exhibition presents case studies from museum practice and shows how damage can be avoided through preventive conservation.

A particular focus is on the restoration of works by Niki de Saint Phalle. In preparation for the major fall exhibition "Niki. Kusama. Murakami. Love You For Infinity", which takes place from 6.9.25 to 14.2.26, visitors can experience live how the works are conserved and restored.

In addition, “Niki Backstage” provides an insight into the career and training of conservators - a scientific profession that combines theory and practice in equal measure.

Curated by the restoration team

16.3. TO 10.4.25Sibylle Fendt, Bevor es soweit ist, 2024

Please note: The exhibition will take place at the Marktkirche Hanover.

The Vonovia Award for Photography was organized in a new format for its seventh edition; however, the theme remains the same: HOME. A jury selected a total of six candidates for a master class. The participants then developed works based on the theme of ZUHAUSE. In cooperation with the Marktkirche and the Sprengel Museum Hannover, the works will be presented from March 16 to April 13, 2025, in the outdoor space in front of and inside the Marktkirche Hannover.

The exhibition features works by Jakob Eckstein, Natalie Kepesz, Klara Meinhardt, Marlene Pfau, Sibylle Fendt, and Christian Heymann.

Curated Reinhard Spieler, Director Sprengel Museum Hanover

Opening 16.3.25, 4 p.m.

Marktkirche Hannover, Hanns-Lilje-Platz 2, 30159 Hanover

Supported by the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung and the Sparkasse Hannover

22.2. TO 15.6.25Grethe Jürgens, Liebespaar, 1930, Öl auf Leinwand, Foto: Herling/Herling/Werner, Sprengel Museum Hannover

The comprehensive retrospective on Grethe Jürgens at the Sprengel Museum Hannover sheds light on an important representative of the New Objectivity of the 1920s. For the first time, the exhibition is showing part of her estate, which comprises over 370 works from various creative phases. The retrospective in the anniversary year of New Objectivity 2025 shows around 150 works, supplemented by numerous documents. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to discover the breadth of Grethe Jürgens' oeuvre, who has long been perceived as being behind other representatives of New Objectivity. The accompanying catalog published by Snoeck Verlag offers insights into her work and life with contributions by various authors and pays full tribute to her artistic significance.

Born in Osnabrück in 1899, Jürgens began her graphic art studies in Hanover, where she met artists who later became known as the “New Objectivity in Hanover”. Early on, she devoted herself to portraits and cityscapes with a strong character and later established her typical visual language with factual, distanced depictions of workers and marginalized groups, characterized by sober realism and a cool, emotionless view of her motifs. Her works are free of accusation and condemnation, but attentively show social tensions and the challenges of life on the margins of society.

Jürgens' artistic breakthrough came with her first exhibitions from 1928. She regularly took part in exhibitions in Hanover and her works were acquired by public collections. After the National Socialists came to power, she had to register with the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts, but was not a member of the NSDAP and escaped confiscation. She adapted to the changed conditions, turning to landscapes and plants and coining her style of “weed painting” with innocuous natural motifs.

Her “rubble paintings” of destroyed Hanover are unique in their impressive depiction of the ruins and the incipient renewal. These works reflect the horror of war and the hope of reconstruction. From the 1950s, her reputation grew again and she was increasingly recognized as an artist of New Objectivity. Jürgens continued to develop towards abstract art and created series such as the “Line Compositions” and the “Kaleidoscopes”. However, her love of experimentation remained intact into old age, even though she increasingly oscillated between abstraction and figurative motifs.

Supported by the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung and the Sparkasse Hannover

Curated by Karin Orchard

Opening: 21.2.25, 7 p.m.

15.2. TO 13.4.25Lillien Grupe, Die neueste Wahrheit liken? 2024 100 cm x 140 cm Öl und Acryl auf Leinwand, (c) Lillien Grupe

In the work of Lillien Grupe (*1997), social and individual reflection flow into a visual language characterized by realism. The painter, who lives and works in Lower Saxony, finds her themes in the critical examination of a society marked by a fast pace and constant change. Her subjects revolve around emotionality, subjectivity, objectivity, as well as control and freedom, which ultimately lead to the question: What is reality?

As part of the sprengel@feinkunst cooperation format, the Sprengel Museum Hannover and feinkunst e.V. present the artist in a solo exhibition showcasing her recent painterly work.

Curated by Katharina Herrmann

At feinkunst e.V.,

Roscherstraße 5, 30161 Hannover 

+49 511 38 87 96 22, Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!

Opening: 14.2.25, 7 p.m.

22.1. TO 6.4.25Christine Hoffmann, Ohne Titel (Köln 50667), 2013, Filzstift, Acryl auf Papier, 29,6 x 41,8 cm

With “Das Atelier als Gemeinschaft”, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is launching a two-part exhibition and mediation project in collaboration with the Geyso20 studio from Braunschweig and the Atelier Wilderers art workshop from Hildesheim. The first part of the exhibition features the works of the #Geyso20 studio. The studio is regarded as a nucleus of artistic creation and a place of community. Forty-two artists with disabilities present their works in an exhibition space modeled after their studio environment. The presentation is accompanied by an extensive educational program in which the artists actively participate.

Curated by Nora Niefanger, Kristina Sinn, and Dörte Wiegand.

13.11.24 TO 4.5.25Richard Deacon, Another Kind of Blue, 2010, 86 x 242 x 76 cm, Keramik, Glasur, Sprengel Museum Hannover

In the exhibition SKULPTUREN ERFASSEN, important positions in modern sculpture come together at the Sprengel Museum Hannover: Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, and Barbara Hepworth.

With SKULPTUREN ERFASSEN, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is embracing inclusive and experience-oriented museum practices. The presentation in the Focus Room invites visitors to engage with the works in a focused and concentrated way: Visitors can trace the sculptures or tactile models with their hands, feel their contours, and explore their surfaces during designated sensory tours. At drawing tables, visitors of all ages are also invited to discover the sculptures by drawing with pencil and paper. Audio descriptions are available to guide visitors through the exhibition and introduce them to the works on display.

Curated by Kristina Sinn and Dörte Wiegand

30.4. TO 13.7.25

With “Das Atelier als Gemeinschaft”, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is initiating a two-part exhibition and mediation project with the art workshop Atelier Wilderers from Hildesheim and Atelier Geyso20 from Braunschweig. The second part of the exhibition shows the works of the “#Wilderes” studio. The Sprengel Museum Hannover has been working closely with the Atelier Wilderers art workshop for several years. 15 artists with disabilities are exhibiting a colorful reinterpretation of the Stations of the Cross at the Sprengel Museum Hannover and providing an insight into their individual work. The presentation is accompanied by an extensive educational program in which the artists are involved.

Curated by Nora Niefanger, Dörte Wiegand und Kristina Sinn

Opening:  29.4.25, 6.30 p.m.

21.5. TO 28.9.25Peter Heber, Blatt 6 der Folge „Über das Sterben“, 1993, Kreide und Pastell auf Bütten, 45 x 62,4 cm; © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

In 2023, the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung acquired the 49-part series of drawings “Über das Sterben” by Peter Heber (*1956 Süderbrarup, lives in Hanover) for its collection, which is housed in the Sprengel Museum Hannover. The drawings, which were created within three days of visits to his aunt's deathbed in 1993, are part of a tradition of death scenes that artists such as Claude Monet, Ferdinand Hodler and Michael Morgner have dealt with intensively.

A booklet will be published in the series “Beiträge zur Sammlung”.

Curated by Karin Orchard

Supported by the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung

Opening: 20.5.25, 6.30 p.m.

5.7. TO 28.9.25

The exhibition “Feministische Avantgarde. Werke aus der SAMMLUNG VERBUNG, Wien” shows the radical feminist art movement of the 1970s. The international women artists share a collective consciousness which, for the first time in art history, completely re-evaluates the “image of the woman” and turns to new forms of expression such as photography, performance, film and video. Their works are provocative, poetic and ironic.

Gabriele Schor, founding director of the SAMMLUNG VERBUND , coined the term “feminist avant-garde” for this feminist art movement to emphasize the pioneering work of these artists. The women called for issues such as pregnancy, marriage, the right to abortion, equal pay for equal work and violence against women to be made public. Issues that are still relevant today.

Curated by Inka Schube

Opening: 4.7.25, 7.00 a.m.

21.5. TO 28.9.25Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room – The Eternally Infinite Light of the Universe Illuminating the Quest for Truth, 2020, Holz, Metall, Glasspiegel, Kunststoff, Acrylplatte, Gummi, LED-Beleuchtungssystem, Schaumstoffkugeln, Edelstahlkugeln, 296 x 622,4 x 622,4 cm, LAS Art Foundation, © Yayoi Kusama

From September 2025 to February 2026, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is presenting the exhibition “Love you for infinity” - a major exhibition highlight that shows works by Niki de Saint Phalle together with works by Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami for the first time. The occasion for this special show is the donation of over 400 works that Niki de Saint Phalle made to the Sprengel Museum in 2000. The exhibition ranges from Niki de Saint Phalle's “shooting pictures” and the famous “Nanas” to Kusama's immersive “Infinity Room” installations and Murakami's pop wallpaper. It combines painting, sculpture, installation and film.

Similarities as well as differences between the artistic styles are revealed in the synopsis. On over 2,000 square meters, surprising connections emerge between the large-format works: from exuberant joie de vivre to existential threats, from feminism and female self-assertion to male dominance.

“Love you for infinity” is the first exhibition to combine works by Niki de Saint Phalle with those of Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama (born 1929) and Takashi Murakami (born 1962). All three artists share an enthusiasm for colorful, expressive worlds of color and forms. Their visual language transcends the boundaries of art, pop culture and commerce and deals with central themes such as art and consumption, life and death as well as sexuality and trauma - each work in its own way.

BACKGROUND
Niki de Saint Phalle achieved international fame with her Nana figures, which were first exhibited in public spaces in Hanover in 1974. Hotly debated at the time, the striking sculptures still characterize the cityscape today. These and other expansive sculptures and paintings articulate a particularly memorable, popular, colorful and life-affirming visual language that is also politically charged. The same can be said for Kusama's work. The situation is similar with Murakami, whose commercialized visual language has developed an unmistakable oeuvre with a high recognition factor: What colourful Nanas are to Niki de Saint Phalle, polka dots are to Yayoi Kusama and stylized colourful flowers in emoji-style are to Takashi Murakami.

Curated by Stefan Gronert, Reinhard Spieler, Nora Niefanger and Talia Walther
Opening 5.9.25, 7.00 p.m.

22.10.25 TO 25.1.26Käte Steinitz: Backstroke, 1930, Glasnegativ, 9 x 12 cm, Sprengel Museum Hannover, 2018 Schenkung Steinitz Family Art Collection, Foto: Sprengel Museum Hannover (Repro)

The exhibition presents for the first time the comprehensive visual work of the artist Käte Steinitz from five decades. Although Steinitz is known in the historiography of Hanover as an important figure in Kurt Schwitters' circle, her own artistic work has remained virtually unknown. Based on the (partial) artistic estate that her heirs donated to the Sprengel Museum Hannover from the USA in 2018, a retrospective is now being created that sheds light on Steinitz's multifaceted work as an artist, photographer and author. Around 150 works and 40 documents are on display in six rooms, tracing her life and work. The majority of the exhibited works, in particular her photographic works, some of which have only survived as negatives, have never been published before.

A monograph of the same name will be published in German and English by Hirmer Verlag.

Supported by the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation

Curated by Isabel Schulz
Co-author of the monograph: Pauline Behrmann

Opening: 21.10.25, 6.30 pm

22.11.25 TO 1.3.26Sven-Julien Kanclerski, Foto: China Hopson

The SPRENGEL PREIS of the Niedersächsischen Sparkassenstiftung and the Niedersächsischen Ministeriums für Wissenschaft und Kultur will be awarded to Sven-Julien Kanclerski in 2025. The Hanover-based artist would like to use the prize money of 12,500 euros and the “Lower Saxony in Europe” travel grant to artistically document the second life of discarded Continental car tires in Romania.

Sven-Julien Kanclerski plans to use the scholarship for a train trip to Timişoara, Romania, following in the footsteps of Continental's car tire production. “In countries like Romania, used tires are often creatively reused, for example in children's playgrounds, for flower pots and as colorful, functional sculptures in public spaces, as breakwaters or as sheathing to make bump edges safer. This use and the ambivalent theme of tires, also as an iconic object within art, interest me from both a sculptural and an environmentally conscious perspective. This parallel to my own work, in which I transform everyday, iconic objects and give them a new level of meaning, fascinates me. The aim of my project is to capture the different approaches and quirky solutions to the tire problem on my trip to Romania, document them photographically and write a travel diary. These notes and observations will later be shown in a catalog and within an exhibition as an installation,” the artist says.

Curated by Nora Niefanger

Opening: 21.11.25, 7 p.m.

11.12.24 TO 9.3.25Exposure #185: Munich, Nederlingerstrasse 68, 04.21.23, 2:35 p.m., © Barbara Probst / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Barbara Probst (*1964) devotes herself to radical constructions of the visible. Her work represents a form of photographic hyper-staging. In her large-format, multi-part images, she encourages viewers to engage with what is depicted both intellectually and sensually. “My work is about seeing and observing, about our perception – about how we see the world and how differently we perceive it,” explains the artist, who initially studied sculpture. Her starting point is multiple perspectives on the same scene, which she captures and photographs simultaneously using various cameras. It becomes clear that “reality” can appear differently at the same time, and a scene can be understood in various ways if we – quite literally – change our point of view.

In cooperation with the Lucerne Art Museum.

Curated by Stefan Gronert.

THE ADVENTURE OF ABSTRACTION
FROM 23.4.23

Reconstruction of Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, Photo: Herling/Herling/Werner, Sprengel Museum Hannover

In “The Adventure of Abstraction”, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is showing a significant part of its collection in the museum’s newly fitted rooms. The selection provides an overview of major manifestations of and developments in non-representational art from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The starting point and focus of the tour are the reconstructions of El Lissitzky’s “Cabinet of the Abstract” (1927) and Kurt Schwitters’ “Merz Construction” (1933). Both rooms, which previously existed in Hannover, embody influential stages in abstract art and allow the visitor to directly experience the interplay of colour and form.

In addition to outstanding works by Schwitters and Lissitzky, Classical Modernism is represented by works by Piet Mondrian, Hans Arp and Paul Klee, among others. From the post-war period are works by, among others, Willi Baumeister, Pierre Soulages and K.O. Götz. These lead on to contemporary artists, such as Pia Fries, Pippilotti Rist and Wolfgang Tillmans. Awaiting discovery in the 18 rooms of “The Adventure of Abstraction” are a cabinet of graphic works, expansive media artworks and abstract films from the early days of the medium.

ARTISTS IN HANNOVER UNDER NATIONAL SOCIALISM

On the museum’s mezzanine floor, another area opens up that takes a look at Hannover artists and art from 1933 to 1945. Taking nine people as examples and tracing historical events, the exhibition illuminates the situation of art and artists under National Socialism and asks how the political conditions impacted on the institutions and artists’ lives and work, museum staff and collectors. Finally, we investigate the extent to which the Nazi past continues to affect the museum to this day.

Curator of “The Adventure of Abstraction”: Isabel Schulz

Curatorial assistant for “The Adventure of Abstraction”: Julius Osman

ELEMENTARY PARTS. BASIC PARTS OF THE SPRENGEL MUSEUM HANNOVER AND ITS ART
13.4.19 TO FEBRUARY 2025

The exhibition ELEMENTARY PARTS poses simple and obvious questions about art that nevertheless prove to be absolutely fundamental: What is art? What are works of art actually made of, which materials are used? Which formal languages do they employ? Which reality (or realities) do they refer to between the figurative, the abstract and the virtual? What is art about, what kind of narratives does it tell, and how does it reflect history? In nine themed rooms, the exhibition unfolds an impressive spectrum of the fundamental possibilities of the material, formal and expressive languages of art and its levels of meaning.

The main topics are colour, material, form/shape, realities, history/narratives, natural and human shaped spaces, strong emotions and finally faces, which ultimately reflect our image of human kind. The exhibition brings together a total of more than 150 works from painting, sculpture, drawing, graphic art and film/video (installation) – all part of the Sprengel Museum Hannover’s collection or on permanent loan. They cover a period stretching from the dawn of Modern Art at the beginning of the 20th century to the immediate present. The selection ranges from Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger and Paul Klee via Louise Bourgeois, Sean Scully, Timm Ulrichs, Niki de Saint Phalle and Gerhard Richter to Marlene Dumas, Andrea Fraser, Bruce Nauman, Julian Charrière, Julius von Bismarck, Christoph Girardet and Julia Schmid.

At the beginning of the exhibition, a further room is dedicated to the Sprengel Museum Hannover itself, thematising the basic elements that make up the institution: What is the legal basis for relations between the museum and its sponsors, donors, (permanent) lenders and partners? What collections does it consist of? What departments are there and what are they each responsible for?

With ELEMENTARY PARTS, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is celebrating both the 50th anniversary of the donation of Bernhard and Margrit Sprengel and the 40th year of the museum’s existence.