Glanz der Kaiser von China: Kunst und Leben in der Verbotenen Stadt, 2012, © Foto: Malinka

Goldene Impressionen: Japanische Malerei 1400-1900, 2011, © Foto: Malinka

Nobuyoshi Araki & Shirô Tsujimura – Work in Progress, 2011, © Foto: Malinka

Goldene Impressionen: Japanische Malerei 1400–1900, 2011, © Foto: Malinka

Exhibitions

Current shows and preview

Exhibition | Current

Ink Roamings

April 5, 2025 to November 9, 2025

“Ink Roamings” presents works by the contemporary Chinese artist Jianfeng Pan (*1973) of the past decade, ranging from small album to monumental scroll formats. His multiversal work is both deeply rooted in China’s historical arts of writing and painting and shaped by his eclectic visions as a graphic designer. With his self-description as a “Social Calligrapher,” Pan, today living in Finland, shapes his creative practice of Radical Ink, respectively, Mindful Ink: calligraphy as a contemporary medium and endeavor promoting human communication and spiritual growth across society and cultures. more

Exhibition | Current

Tanaka Ryohei

November 30, 2024 to April 13, 2025

Tanaka Ryohei (1933–2019) was a Japanese printmaker who masterfully employed the Western intaglio technique of etching (Japanese: doban). His predominantly monochromatic prints depict Japan’s traditional thatched-roof farmhouses, temples, and landscapes with poetic beauty and a gentle melancholy. The textures of thatch, wood, stone, and other natural materials are rendered with remarkable precision and perfection. more

Exhibition | Current

Regarding the „Line“

February 8, 2025 to December 2025

Writing and its artistic expression, calligraphy (kor. seoye), play a major role in Korean art. In order to illustrate the influence and importance of calligraphy in Korea, the exhibition contrasts works of contemporary Korean writing and traditional as well as modern painting with examples of ceramics and bronzes from the Goryeo period (918–1392), a peak of Korean culture. more

Exhibition | Current

The Ming Myth

Mai 22, 2025 to November 9, 2025

The exhibition chronologically traces the artistic and technical development of blue and white porcelain and its trading history from the early phase of the Ming dynasty to its decline in the 17th century. In addition to the production for the court, the exhibition highlights export wares for various regional markets and the attempts by Persian, Ottoman and European faience manufacturers to imitate the Chinese models. The exhibits are complemented by visual material such as paintings, miniatures, woodblock prints and photographs. On display are objects from the museum's own collection, permanent loans from the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation as well as loans from Cologne's municipal museums, the Netherlands and important German private collectors. more

Exhibition | Preview

Celebrating the Lunar Year of the Horse

December 3, 2025 to Oktober 2026

The exhibition focuses the subject of the horse in East Asian art. The transregional presentation explores the horse as a pictorial motif and symbolic bearer of meaning as seen through the perspectives of the various art forms of China, Japan, and Korea. The displayed artworks will include paintings and calligraphy, ceramics, porcelains, bronze sculptures, lacquer objects, woodcut prints, and textiles. The exhibition primarily features objects from the museum's own collection, complemented by selected loans. It is held on occasion of the lunar year 2026, which according to the East Asian zodiac falls under the sign of the Horse.

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Opening times

Tuesday to Sunday
11am – 5pm
Every first Thursday in the month
11am – 10pm (except Mai 1)

Closed Mondays; open on All Saints' Day
Museum is closed on December 24th, Christmas Day (25 Dec), New Year's Eve (31 Dec) and New Year's Day (1 Jan). Museum is opend on Easter Monday, Whit Monday, German Unity Day and December 26.