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The Collection

Jonathan Borofsky, Walking Man, 1995

The Collection

JONATHAN BOROFSKY

Walking Man, 1995

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Ulrich Horndash / Dietmar Tanterl, Untitled, 1995, Underground Art Installation

The Collection

ULRICH HORNDASH / DIETMAR TANTERL

Untitled, 1995

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The Collection

JENNY HOLZER

Truisms, 1997

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Installation Echo by Katharina Gaenssler at Munich Re's conference centrum

The Collection

KATHARINA GAENSSLER

Echo, 2019

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Roland Burkart, Infinity Green, 2020

The Collection

ROLAND BURKART

Infinity Green, 2020

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Maurizio Nannucci, NOITISOPPOSEDARTSEESTRADESOPPOSITION, 1995

The Collection

MAURIZIO NANNUCCI

NOITISOPPOSEDARTSEESTRADESOPPOSITION, 1995

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Beat Streuli, World Cities, 2017

The Collection

BEAT STREULI

World Cities, 2017

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Keith Sonnier, Verbindung RotBlauGelb, 2002

The Collection

KEITH SONNIER

Verbindung RotBlauGelb, 2002

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Light Installation "The Inner Way", 1999 by James Turrell

The Collection

JAMES TURRELL

The Inner Way, 1999

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Sculpture Single Form (Chûn Quoit), 1961 by Barbara Hepworth in front of the photography Uno Gebäude, 1991/94by Dieter Rehm

The Collection

BARBARA HEPWORTH I DIETER REHM

Single Form (Chûn Quoit), 1961 | Uno Gebäude, 1991/94

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Photography by Barbara Probst, Exposure #103: N.Y.C., 401 Broadway, 12.05.12, 4:26 p.m., 2012

The Collection

BARBARA PROBST

Exposure #103: N.Y.C., 401 Broadway, 12.05.12, 4:26 p.m., 2012

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Fritz Erler, Freskenzyklus, 1913

The Collection

FRITZ ERLER

Freskenzyklus, 1913

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Working with art

Works of art accompany Munich Re staff, clients and guests not only in corridors, foyers, conference rooms, offices and meeting points, but even in stairwells and underground passages. Current artistic positions and themes of contemporary art are displayed in temporary exhibitions. At events too, art stimulates conversation, shows different perspectives and provides new impetus. The Munich Re Art Collection comprises more than 3,000 works by international artists – from paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures, all the way to architectural installations.  

It is Munich Re’s intention and motivation to integrate the diversity of forms of artistic expression into the work environment. The collection is constantly being expanded with contemporary artworks, including, in particular, works by young contemporary artists. 

Working with Art | The Munich Re Art Collection
© Munich Re

The beginnings

It all began in 1912/13 with the construction of the Main Building at Königinstrasse in Munich. Besides having a keen instinct for insurance, Carl von Thieme, the founder of Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft (Munich Re), also had an equally sophisticated taste for the art of his time. Thieme commissioned artists from the region to create works for the new company’s headquarters. To this day, the roughly 20 sqm fresco by Reinhold Max Eichler depicting the dramatically staged Kampf der Elemente (Battle of the Elements) still makes an impact in the staircase leading from the entrance area. The listed building’s Main Conference Room was also decorated with murals that make reference to the tasks and risks of insurance. As do the four life-sized sculptures by Josef Wackerle and Ernst Geiger in the portico of the neoclassical building, which, as personifications of the four elements, make reference to the core business of the still young company.  

With Munich Re’s development into a globally operating Group, the art has also become more international. Without setting any specific thematic or formal focus, since the mid-1990s the Munich Re Art Collection’s approach to collecting has followed the current trends in international contemporary art.  

Agnes Jänsch, With love and devotion, 2009-2010 in front of the fresco Kampf der Elemente by Reinhold Max Eichler, 1912/13
© Agnes Jänsch; Munich Re, Photo: Christian Kain

Art and architecture

For Munich Re, the link between art and architecture is of great importance and a key component of the collection profile – and not only in its early days. As the Company grew, new possibilities for dialogue between art and architecture continually opened up. To date, more than 60 site-specific artworks have been created. Even underground.

Artists were invited to develop concepts in situ for the more than 1,000 metres of branching underground passageways that connect the office buildings in Schwabing between Königinstrasse and Leopoldstrasse with each other. The light installations created by Angela Bulloch, Roland Burkart, Maurizio Nannucci, Keith Sonnier, James Turrell and Rolf Walz, among others, make daily movements through the buildings an inspiring experience, as do the expansive installations by Ecke Bonk, Jenny Holzer, Peter Kogler, Aribert von Ostrowski and Felice Varini in the stairwells, or the more than 400 sqm photo installation by Katharina Gaenssler in the conference centre. 

Munich Re also sets trends outdoors, for example on the forecourt of the office building on Leopoldstrasse. The 17-metre-high Walking Man sculpture has stood here since 1995. Jonathan Borofsky designed what has since become the Munich Re Art Collection’s best-known artwork specifically for that location. At Münchner Tor, Roland Fischer’s Kubus im See defines the architectural ensemble and, in the immediate vicinity of the English Garden, the stainless steel sculpture Discrepancy by Roxy Paine marks the entrance to the Mandlstrasse office building. 

Roxy Paine, Discrepancy, 2011
© Roxy Paine / Munich Re, Photo: Jens Weber
Roland Fischer, Kubus im See, 2021
© Roland Fischer / Munich Re, Photo: Roland Fischer

Commitment to art

Besides the continuous further development of the collection and the temporary exhibitions of contemporary art that regularly take place in collaboration with the exhibiting artists, Munich Re is also active on another level – for example as a lender for exhibitions, cooperation partner for projects of museums and other art institutions, or as a member of the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy at the Federation of German Industries e. V. Susanne Ehrenfried-Bergmann, the curator of the Munich Re Art Collection, is also an active member of the board of the Working Group for Corporate Collecting. It is the conviction of all corporations represented here that the link between art and business is based on mutual esteem and respect for artistic freedom. 
Felice Varini, circles, mirrors, staircases, 2002
© Felice Varini / Munich Re, Photo: Bruchhaus/Lachenmann

Artists

Nevin Aladağ | Josef Albers | Darren Almond | Andreu Alfaro | Boban Andjelkovic | Siegrun Appelt | Yoshikuni Araki | Roy Arden | John M. Armleder | Dan Asher | Mojé Assefjah | Klaus Auderer | Stephan Balkenhol | Gabriele Basch | Georg Baselitz | Georg Baumkötter | Thomas Bechinger | Nigin Beck | Olaf Otto Becker | Rudolf Belling | Kurt Benning | Sadie Benning | Laurenz Berges | Scarlet Berner | Joseph Beuys | Max Bill | Ecke Bonk | Jonathan Borofksy | Sonja Braas | Herbert Brandl | George Braques | Georg Brenninger | Frank Breuer | Will Brüll | Michal Budny | Angela Bulloch | Roland Burkart | Ingrid Calame | Alexander Calder | Ernst Caramelle | Marc Chagall | Eduardo Chillida | Abraham David Christian | Andreas Chwatal | Daniel Gustav Cramer | Michael Croissant | Sebastian Dacey | Philippe Decrauzat | Ruth Detzer | Hansjoerg Dobliar | Jiri Georg Dokoupil | Hedwig Eberle | Reinhold Max Eichler | Olafur Eliasson | Ulrich Erben | Fritz Erler | Max Ernst | Elger Esser | Martin Fengel | Miriam Ferstl | Roland Fischer | Carsten Fock | Günther Förg | Pius Fox | Bernard Frize | Tom Früchtl | Günter Fruhtrunk | Hamish Fulton | Katharina Gaenssler | Sébastien de Ganay | Rupprecht Geiger | Ernst Geitlinger | Felicitas Gerstner | Frank Gerritz | Gilbert & George | Andy Goldsworthy | Jeff Grant | Tamara Grcic | Tue Greenfort | Katharina Grosse | Beate Gütschow | Terry Haggerty | Flaka Haliti | Peter Halley | Haubitz+Zoche | Julius Heinemann | Thilo Heinzmann | Veronika Hilger | Barbara Hepworth | Lori Hersberger | Erika Hock | Jenny Holzer | Edgar Honetschläger | Andy Hope 1930 | Ulrich Horndash | Sabine Hornig | Monika Huber | Stephan Huber | Axel Hütte | Stefan Hunstein | Daniel Robert Hunziker | Endy Hupperich | Leonhard Hurzlmeier | Agnes Jänsch | Margarete Jakschik | Donald Judd | Wassily Kandinsky | Franka Kaßner | Christoph Keller | Per Kirkeby | Fridhelm Klein | Hermann Kleinknecht | Franziska Kneidl | Imi Knoebel | Bernd Koberling | Fritz König | Peter Kogler | Oskar Kokoschka | Jörg Koopmann | Brigitte Kowanz | Peter Krauskopf | Norbert Kricke | Philipp Lachenmann | Michel Landy | Alexander Laner | Alf Lechner | Judy Ledgerwood | Zilla Leutenegger | Justin Lieberman | Sol Lewitt | Axel Loytved | Rosilene Luduvico | Markus Lüpertz | M+M | Michel Majerus | Daniel Man | Julia Mangold | Per Martensson | Jason Martin | Hiroyuki Masuyama | Rupprecht Matthies | Manfred Mayerle | Anna McCarthy | Brian McKee | Michaela Melián | Olaf Metzel | Garry Fabian Miller | Joan Miró | Paul Morrison | Ralph Müller | Wilhelm Mundt | Antonio Murado | Ben Muthofer | Maurizio Nannucci | Ernst Wilhelm Nay | Sigrid Neubert | Carsten Nicolai |  Frank Nitsche | Martin Noël | Rika Noguchi | Lisa Oppenheim | Carl Ostendarp | Aribert von Ostrowski | Roxy Paine | Jorge Pardo | Jürgen Partenheimer | Moritz Partenheimer | Manfred Peckl | Otto Piene | Jack Pierson | Serge Poliakoff | Thomas von Poschinger | Barbara Probst | Ulf Puder | Erwin Redl | Dieter Rehm | Jürgen Reipka | Berthold Reiß | Gerhard Richter | George Rickey | Anne Rößner | Julio Rondo | Thomas Ruff | Roland Schappert | Stefan Sandner | Fumie Sasabuchi | Hubert Scheibl | Stefan Schessl | Hans-Christian Schink | Eva Schlegel | Hank Schmidt in der Beek | Ulrich Schmitt | Berit Schneidereit | Felix Schramm | Simon Schubert | Marco Schuler | Tilo Schulz | Martin Schwenk | Stefan Sehler | Emanuel Seitz | Keith Sonnier | Heidi Specker | Nancy Spero | Anton Stankowski | Beat Streuli | Frank Stürmer | Jesús Rafael Soto | Pierre Soulages | Yoshihiro Suda | Florian Süssmayr | Dietmar Tanterl | Wolfgang Tillmans | Tobias Töpfer | James Turrell | Cy Twombly | Veron Urdarianu | Ignacio Uriarte | Felice Varini | Victor Vasarely | Jorinde Voigt | Cornelius Völker | Josef Wackerle | Rolf Walz | Thomas Weinberger | Lawrence Weiner | James Welling | Markus Weggenmann | Otto Wesendonck | Elisabeth Wieser | Fritz Winter | Ebbe Stub Wittrup | Martin Wöhrl | Jens Wolf | Ekrem Yalcindag | Z-Rok | Natalia Zaluska | Remy Zaugg | Bernd Zimmer | Peter Zimmermann | Heimo Zobernig | and many more
Zilla Leutenegger, Corridor, 2004
© Zilla Leutenegger, Photo: Jens Bruchhaus
Jürgen Partenheimer, Weltachse, 1997
© Jürgen Partenheimer / Munich Re, Photo: Christian Kain
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