Photo: Martina Bauer

Well over 1,000 visitors came to the opening event of DIE GROSSE Kunstausstellung NRW at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf. The current show presents, over two floors, current positions from the fields of painting, graphics, sculpture, photography and new media by 148 artists from North Rhine-Westphalia.

In addition to the invited guests, hundreds of visitors wanted to see the art exhibition DIE GROSSE NRW on the opening day. At the opening, Beat Wismer, outgoing general director of the Museum Kunstpalast Foundation, and Michael Kortländer, exhibition director and first chairman of the Verein zur Veranstaltung von Kunstausstellungen e.V., emphasised the importance of the show, which has been organised since 1902: it is the largest exhibition in Germany organised by artists for artists, and it was visited by more than 12,000 people in three weeks in 2016 alone.

The jury selected a 230 by 190 cm abstract scriptural painting from 2014 by the Afghan-German artist Aatifi, who has had a studio in Bielefeld since 1999.

Photos: Martina Bauer