Foundation & Museum

Messmer Foundation and Kunsthalle Messmer

The messmer foundation emerged in 2006 from the Petra and Jürgen A. Messmer Foundation, which Jürgen A. Messmer established in 2005 in memory of his daughter and business partner Petra Kerstin, who died in 2003. Design and art had always been closely linked between father and daughter. The institutional basis for sustainable and professional museum work was created with the renaming to messmer foundation.

The foundation is run by the kunsthalle messmer, which opened on June 20, 2009 with the exhibition “Homage to André Evard”. The art gallery is located in part of the former brewery castle in Riegel, which is over 130 years old, at the confluence of the Dreisam, Elz and Glotter rivers. Works of classical modernism and contemporary art are presented on around 900 square meters of exhibition space and in a spacious sculpture garden.

Since its opening, the Kunsthalle has developed into one of the most important exhibition venues for modern and contemporary art in southern Germany. Around one million visitors have visited the exhibitions over the past 15 years. The year 2024 marked a special milestone in the history of the museum with its 15th anniversary. During this time, around 50 groundbreaking exhibitions have been realized, including presentations by internationally renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Niki de Saint Phalle and Andy Warhol. The Kunsthalle has thus established itself as an important cultural attraction in the region.

The Messmer Collection gives the institution a special profile. It comprises the world’s largest and most important collection of works by the Swiss artist André Evard. Evard turned to geometric abstraction as early as 1913 and is considered one of the pioneers of concrete-constructivist art in Switzerland. In 1975, Jürgen A. Messmer succeeded in acquiring large parts of the artist’s estate, thus laying the foundation for this unique focus of the collection.

The International André Evard Prize was established in the artist’s honor – a central concern of Jürgen A. Messmer since the founding of the Kunsthalle. With prize money of 10,000 euros, the award is today one of the most important prizes in the field of concrete-constructive art. Every three years, several hundred artists from all over the world apply; a selection of outstanding positions is presented in a large group exhibition in Riegel. This year’s competition will once again draw international attention to the Kunsthalle and strengthen its role as a vibrant venue for constructivist and concrete art.

The messmer foundation thus combines collection, exhibition and active promotion of art – and consistently continues the commitment of its founder into the future.

2026 is a special year for Evard: we are celebrating his 150th birthday. To mark this anniversary, his work will be honored internationally. First, his work will be presented at Galerie Schrade in Schloss Mochental in a solo exhibition entitled “André Evard – Early Abstraction 1920-1960” from March 1 to April 26, 2026. Evard’s work will then be on display in an exhibition at the Powerlong Museum in Shanghai from June 12 to September 20, 2026, where it will be introduced to a new audience in China and underscore the artist’s global significance.

We will then receive the works back to Riegel for a major exhibition “150 Years of Evard & the Avant-Garde” from October 17, 2026 to April 18, 2027, in which Evard will be shown in conjunction with artists such as Baumeister, Paul Klee and other internationally renowned positions.