Cool Place. Scharpff Collection

Ute and Rudolf Scharpff began collecting contemporary art in the 1960s. In order to make their collection accessible for the public, the Stuttgart couple entered into a close collaboration with four German museums in 2008. Since then, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart have had works from a so-called “open depot” at their disposal and could show them as supplements to their own permanent collections or in exhibitions.

The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart devoted a large exhibition to the main focus of the Scharpff collection, painting. The Scharpff Collection compromises important aspects of current painting, ranging from abstract and figurative to conceptual approaches. It includes examples of Neorealism, as well as works influenced by Appropriation Art, Constructivism, and Op-Art.