Twelve major 19th-century works, donated by Hanns von der Ohe and Renate Luck to the King Baudouin Foundation, are on display at the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen. Starting December 4, the museum will open its new permanent exhibition. It offers an immersion into the evolution of 19th-century European painting while highlighting the close cultural ties between Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This is the first time that the King Baudouin Foundation has loaned such a large number of works – twelve in total – on long-term loan to a foreign museum.

The Luck-von der Ohe Collection

The works loaned by the King Baudouin Foundation come from the collection of the collector’s couple Hanns von der Ohe and Renate Luck. This collection was recently donated to the King Baudouin Foundation to preserve it for future generations and make it accessible to the general public. The collection includes 19th-century paintings by Dutch and Belgian artists and illustrates the importance of landscape and genre painting at that time.

Artistic Neighbours

A specially designed room on the second floor highlights the Luck-von der Ohe collection, presented as a group illustrating the evolution of landscape painting in Northern and Central Europe. It also emphasises the proximity to the artistic scene of neighbouring countries, exploring romantic an realistic trends that reflect a changing relationship with nature and society. This long-term loan illustrate the importance of artistic exchanges between neighbouring countries. The museum thus offers a historical perspective, consolidates its cultural ties with Belgium and the Netherlands, and attracts a diverse and cross-border audience.

Enrichment and Extra Dimension

The integration of major artists such as Théophile de Bock and Paul J.C. Gabriel, emblematic figures of the Hague School, allows the museum to present key representatives of this movement for the first time. Influenced by the Barbizon School, the Hague School played a crucial role in the emergence of new artistic impulses, particularly in the development of post-impressionism and modernity.
Belgian artists, such as Isidore Verheyden, François Antoine Bossuet, and Jean-Baptiste de Jonghe, add an extra dimension to the collection by offering a vision of rural idyll and peasant life, depicted with a romantic sensitivity that provided an escape from the urbanisation and industrialisation of their time. Close to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, these artists exchanged ideas with leading painters from other European artistic centers, thus introducing new accents in the field of landscape and genre realism.
This cross-border presentation is also enriched by new works from Wilhelm Lommens, enriching the representation of the Düsseldorf School, and from representatives of the Munich School, including Walther Firle and his master Alois Gabl.

Practical Information:
Suermondt-Ludwig Museum
Wilhelmstrasse 18
D - 52070 Aachen
Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm
Closed on Monday