MUDAM LUXEMBOURG – THE CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM OF LUXEMBOURG

Mudam Luxembourg opened in 2006 in a purpose-built building designed by the renowned Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei and is located in the Park Dräi Eechelen. Through its collection, exhibitions, programmes and partnerships, Mudam aims to collect, present and make accessible the most relevant art of our times, for the largest public possible.

Permanent collections

Resolutely international in its scope and ambition, the holdings of the Mudam Collection consist of close to 700 works of art in all media by artists from Luxembourg and around the world. A small nucleus of the collection consists of fashion and design objects. Over 54 works are the result of commissions by Mudam for its distinctive architectural context. The constitution of the collection traces back to the first acquisitions for the museum in the 1990s, the creation of the Museum of Modern Art Grand-Duc Jean Foundation in 1998, and the opening of the Museum in 2006. While the decade of the 1960s serves as an historic point of reference for contemporary art, the majority of works in the collection date from 1989 to the present. An exception to this historical span is the ensemble of furniture for the Paimio Sanatorium, designed between 1931 and 1933 by the architect Alvar Aalto, and acquired in 2002.

Temporary exhibitions

More information

Architecture

Mudam was designed by Sino-American and Pritzker Prize winning architect Ieoh Ming Pei. The architecture of the museum is intended as a dialogue between the natural and historical context of its site. In its orientation it represents a link between the past (the former Fort Thüngen and the historic city of Luxembourg), the present and the future (the European district of Kirchberg). With its neighbouring cultural institutions that include the Musée Dräi Eechelen, the Philharmonic Concert Hall by Christian de Portzamparc, and the Place de l’Europe by Ricardo Bofill, Mudam is an iconic architectural landmark of Luxembourg City.

 

The building is spread over three levels of 4,000 m2 of surface area dedicated to the museum's exhibitions and collection. The simple volumes and generous spaces and the play between interior and exterior with views onto the surrounding Park Dräi Eechelen are covered with an audacious glass canopy. I. M. Pei's use of the honey-coloured limestone known as Magny Doré endows the building with a distinctive luminosity animated by subtle plays of light and shadows across the day and the seasons.

 

The Park Dräi Eechelen was designed by landscape architect Michel Desvigne, for which he was awarded the Luxembourg Prize for Architecture in 2011. Desvigne’s design is distinguished by its minimalist composition of trees and paving that gently slopes from the urban Place de l'Europe to the natural surroundings of the historical Fort Thüngen.

Programme at Mudam Luxembourg