Skadi Heckmüller
Art Collections and Where to Find Them

A new booklet is advertised as “a guidebook-format who’s who of private art collections”. It presents 90 private but publicly accessible collections of contemporary and modern art in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

By Holger Moos

© Distanz Verlag Private Access is the name of Skadi Heckmüller’s book, which was first published in 2011 and was issued in 2019 in an expanded new edition. The updated version, which is available in German and English, contains around 30 newly added art collections.
 
As a “passionate backpacker” and arts tourist, the author has visited all of the collections herself. Although she doesn’t offer an exhaustive overview, missing collections will be the destinations of her upcoming journeys.

Also in remote places

The volume is organised by country and state or Swiss canton. Each collection is presented with a one- or two-page essay, a photo and essential facts. They include the address, opening hours, admission prices, arrival by public transport as well as restaurant tips and other art tips in the area.
 
The collections are often not located in large cities, and sometimes the locations are quite remote. Internationally renowned collections are presented, such as the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden, the Boros Collection in Berlin and Munich’s Brandhorst Museum, but also less well-known collections like the Domnick Collection near Nürtingen on the fringes of the Swabian Alb, the Villa Haiss Museum in Sankt Georgen at the foot of the Black Forest or the Photographic Collection at Kummerow Castle in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

A successful art guidebook

Notably, the majority of private art collections in Germany are located in the west and south of the country; the regions that were prosperous in the past or are today and that are home to the necessarily moneyed collectors.
 
Due to their brevity, the descriptions of the individual collections are, of course, rudimentary; the handy volume is nevertheless a successful art guidebook that will make readers want to discover art in familiar and unknown places. You’ll want to plan your next trip straight away.
© Distanz Verlag