Busch-Reisinger Museum

Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum/Verein der Freunde des Busch-Reisinger Museum

Founded in Germany in 1983 and now celebrating its 26th anniversary, the Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum/Verein der Freunde des Busch-Reisinger Museums is a private nonprofit organization based in Germany. Its mission is to provide support for the Busch-Reisinger Museum, to further the museum’s educational mission, and to promote opportunities for cultural exchange between the museum and Verein members, who now number over 240, based in Germany and throughout Europe, the United States, and other countries.

Since 1983 the Verein has supported a wide range of projects, including solo exhibitions of the work of contemporary artists such as Joseph Beuys, Günter Umberg, Hanne Darboven, and Bernhard and Anna Blume, as well as major traveling exhibitions devoted to such topics as German drawings and watercolors of the age of Goethe, German realist drawings of the 1920s, and East German art. The Verein has also supported scholarly research and the production of several catalogues and other publications.

Key funding has also come from the Verein for a number of lectures and symposia, as well as curatorial training, teaching, and research, including fellowships.

The Verein, together with individual members and other Friends, has enabled the museum to add an extraordinarily rich spectrum of works to the collection, including late 19th-century drawings, paintings and works on paper by Gerhard Richter; large groups of postwar drawings, prints, and photographs; Bauhaus designs; and multiples by Joseph Beuys, to name only a few. In 2008, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Verein, Dr. Siegfried Gohr initiated a gift of the Friends Anniversary Collection, which will contribute 50 to 75 post-1960 works by German artists to the Busch-Reisinger Museum.

Support from the Verein is generated through annual membership dues, which are tax deductible in Germany. In addition to receiving all the benefits of membership in the Harvard Art Museums, Verein members also enjoy a range of further activities, including special travel programs, attendance at the annual business meeting, and the right to vote on Board membership.