Horst Janssen!?

New permanent exhibition about his life and work

The Horst Janssen Museum not only celebrated its 20th birthday in November 2020, but has since presented itself with a new, interactive permanent exhibition. 20 years of the Horst Janssen Museum stand for a perpetual approach to one person and his work, which could not be more multi-faceted: Horst Janssen. He is many things: an Oldenburg native as well as an artist and printmaker of exceptional talent, draughtsman and observer, lateral thinker and a creator of words.

In the new permanent exhibition visitors can encounter Janssen in a variety of ways: four thematic areas introduce the artist, his work and his printing techniques and invite visitors to become active themselves again and again. The most important concern was to give museum guests a practical understanding of Janssen's complex printing techniques.

Theme area "biography”

Visitors can find out where and how Janssen lived by looking at the richly illustrated biography to which a section of the exhibition is dedicated. Contemporary witnesses speak in an audio station about the friend Horst Janssen, the business partner, the husband and father, the draughtsman, the Biennale prize winner, but also about the artist's death.

Theme area "printing techniques”

Horst Janssen is a printmaker of exceptional talent. How did he print his woodcuts, his lithographies and his etchings? All of Janssen's techniques are presented in three short films. In addition, visitors are invited to become active themselves at “hands-on” stations and develop an understanding of the technical context of printing plates or stones and the print.

Theme area "history of drawing”

Horst Janssen is a draughtsman and observer. What inspired him, how did he work artistically? Individual aspects that characterize Janssen's drawing style are explained using examples: his artistic role models or his preference for depicting the ephemeral world. Drawing tables invite you to become creative yourself.

Theme area "how he writes”

Horst Janssen is a lateral thinker and a creator of words. Was he even more a writer than a visual artist? In any case, he was a book illustrator, author of a multitude of his own texts and an attentive reader and "exploiter" of texts by other writers. For Janssen, the word is often placed next to the picture; reason enough to give yet another of Horst Janssen's facets its own space.

Visitors of the new permanent exhibition can look forward to a continuous and extensive selection from the work of Horst Janssen. The works are repeatedly interchanged and presented in thematic groups. Thus, there is always something new to discover, even on repeated visits.