Bundeskunstsammlung

The Federal Art Collection is a collection of contemporary art, which is supported and funded by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its official name is contemporary art collection of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Federal Art Collection was founded in 1970 at the instigation of the then Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt after a suggestion of the Chairman of the German Association of Artists, Georg Meister man. After the first collection was under the care of the Minister of the Interior, it is now managed by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media. Your goal is the documentation of artistic creation and the development of contemporary art in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The collection does not have an exhibition building. Works of today (2010) more than 1400 objects comprehensive collection can be borrowed by public institutions such as the Federal Chancellery, Federal Ministries, German embassies, as well as numerous museums in Germany. Parts of the collection are presented in exhibitions. The Bundestag has its own collection of modern art, as well buy the states of works by living artists on.

About the acquisitions for the Federal Art Collection by an independent commission of experts. The honorary members are re- appointed every five years by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media. To purchase the members meet on the three major international art fairs, Art Basel, Art Cologne (Köln) and Berlin. Here they are currently (2010) 480.000 euros.

The collection includes paintings, but also works in the fields of graphic design, photography and installation. Represented are artists like Genzken, Johanna Diehl, Thomas Struth, Olafur Eliasson and Jonathan Monk. Due to the small budget very commercially successful artists such as Georg Baselitz, Markus Liipertz, AR Penck and Gerhard Richter are not only represented by works on paper, Anselm Kiefer.