Horst Janssen Museum

The Horst Janssen Museum is an art museum located in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, dedicated to the visual arts on paper and centered on the life and oeuvre of the North German artist Horst Janssen (1929-1995). Opened in 2000, the institution explores the many facets of Janssen's prolific output as a draftsman, etcher, lithographer, wood engraver, poster artist, illustrator, and writer. It holds a permanent exhibition of his work alongside rotating temporary exhibitions that contextualize his art within broader classical and contemporary trends in drawing and printmaking.

The museum's inception was catalyzed in 1995 when Oldenburg entrepreneur and patron Claus Hüppe purchased a collection of 1,800 works by Janssen from the Hamburg-based collectors Carin and Carl Vogel for 1.5 million Deutsche Marks. Hüppe lent this foundational collection to the city of Oldenburg on the condition that a dedicated museum be built to house it. Funding for the construction, which cost just over 11 million DM, came from the state of Lower Saxony, the city of Oldenburg, a support association, and private donors. The building was completed with a half-year delay and officially opened on November 13, 2000, with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder attending the ceremony. In 2016, the museum purchased 315 watercolors, prints, and drawings from the private collection of Stefan Blessin, a friend and biographer of Janssen, for 1.5 million euros. Funded by foundations and sponsors, the works were formally handed over in early 2017, transforming the museum's holdings from primarily loans into a robust, independent core collection. The permanent exhibition was significantly renewed in 2020 under the title Horst Janssen - Neu entdeckt! (Horst Janssen - Newly Discovered!).

The museum's collection spans Janssen's diverse graphic mediums, including drawings, etchings, lithographs, wood engravings, posters, illustrations, and written works. The permanent exhibition is organized into four thematic areas covering his life path, his drawing and printmaking techniques, and his word art. It incorporates interactive elements such as hands-on stations for exploring printing techniques, audio testimonials, drawing tables, and short films on Janssen's methods in woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings. To preserve the delicate paper-based originals, the displayed works are rotated three times a year. Beyond Janssen's own art, the museum hosts three to four temporary exhibitions annually that focus on classical and contemporary trends in drawing, including graphic novels, storyboards, costume designs, scores, social land art, paper cuts, and digital animations. The institution also houses a library of 25,000 art volumes, including nearly all of Janssen's publications, and provides a specialized room where visitors can request to view unexhibited drawings and prints from the collection.

The foundational holdings of the museum consist of the 1,800 works acquired from Carin and Carl Vogel, who had befriended Janssen during his time at the Hamburg art academy where Carl Vogel served as director. The 2016 acquisition of 315 works from Stefan Blessin significantly deepened the museum's independent collection. Notable exhibitions have featured Janssen's self-portraits, floral still lifes, and expressive explorations of the human form, as well as his everyday art drawn on letters, shopping lists, promissory notes, wine bottle wrapping paper, beer mats, aprons, and serviettes. The museum has also hosted major exhibitions of artists who influenced or were connected to Janssen, such as Goya, Rembrandt, Egon Schiele, Man Ray, Niki de Saint Phalle, Salvador Dali, Markus Lupertz, and Jurgen Immendorff. In 2009, the museum held the first broad retrospective of Janssen's work since his death, showcasing around 300 works to commemorate what would have been his 80th birthday. In 2023, international artist Christoph Niemann created a 50-meter-long mural titled Current Lines for the museum's exterior facade.

The museum building was designed by architects Peter Reinig, Meike Dreyer, and Carl Deters, with construction completed between 1999 and 2000. The modern structure provides 1,000 square meters of exhibition space across three levels. The first level houses the permanent exhibition dedicated to Janssen, while the second and third levels are utilized for temporary exhibitions. The building is physically and organizationally connected to the Stadtmuseum Oldenburg, which covers the history of the city, and the two institutions share a common entrance and administrative resources.

The Horst Janssen Museum is located at Am Stadtmuseum 4-8 in Oldenburg, Germany. It operates Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The museum maintains a close connection to contemporary graphic art through the Horst Janssen Print Prize, awarded by the Claus Huppe Foundation at regular intervals. Recipients of the prize, which is accompanied by an exhibition at the museum, include Katja Eckert (2003), Daniel Roth (2005), Anna Lea Hucht (2008), Michael Wutz (2011), Ralf Ziervogel (2014), and Tobias Dostal (2017).