Mudam Akademie 2026/2027
Art History of the 20th and 21st Centuries
A Ten-Part Seminar Series
The art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has fundamentally transformed our understanding of what a work of art can be. Painting, sculpture and drawing have been expanded to include photography, film, performance, installation and digital media. Artists have responded to social change, political upheaval, technological innovation and global interconnectedness by developing new visual languages and modes of artistic expression.
This seminar series invites participants to explore the major developments of modern and contemporary art through the close study of selected works. Emphasis is placed on careful observation, the analysis of artworks and the historical, social and cultural contexts in which they were created. Participants will acquire essential methods of visual analysis while learning to identify, contextualise and critically discuss the diverse artistic movements and practices of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The seminar is open to anyone with an interest in art; no prior knowledge is required. Each session combines an art-historical introduction with close looking, discussion and collective analysis.
Programme
Techniques of Visual Analysis | 07.10.2026
With Bettina Steinbrügge (EN)
How do we describe a work of art? This introductory session presents methods for looking closely at artworks, focusing on composition, colour, form, space, material and light, as well as iconographic and iconological approaches. The aim is to develop both visual awareness and a shared vocabulary for discussing art.
The Emergence of Modernism | 11.11.2026
With Markus Pilgram (DE)
The artistic revolutions of the early twentieth century transformed the understanding of image and reality. Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism and the rise of abstraction introduced radically new artistic languages.
Dada and Surrealism | 09.12.2026
With Bettina Steinbrügge (EN)
Between protest and dream, artists challenged conventional notions of art through the readymade, collage, chance and the exploration of the unconscious, opening new possibilities for artistic thought and practice.
Art after 1945 | 20.01.2027
With Marie-Noëlle Farcy (FR)
In the aftermath of the Second World War, new forms of abstraction and gestural painting emerged. Art Informel, Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting reflect a period of renewal and the shifting center of the international art world.
Pop Art and the Culture of Images | 17.02.2027
With Bettina Steinbrügge (EN)
Advertising, consumer culture and mass media became central subjects of artistic practice. Pop Art questioned the boundaries between high and popular culture and continues to shape the way we understand visual culture today.
Minimal Art and Conceptual Art | 17.03.2027
With Hollie Baptiste-Douglas (EN)
Can an idea itself be a work of art? Reduction, repetition, language and process became defining elements of artistic practices that redefined traditional notions of originality, authorship and the art object.
Body, Performance and Identity | 14.04.2027
With Léon Kruijswijk (EN)
Since the 1960s, the human body has become an artistic medium in its own right. Performance art, feminist practices and explorations of identity, gender and self-representation have profoundly expanded the field of contemporary art.
Photography, Video and New Media | 19.05.2027
With Christophe Gallois (FR)
Photography, film, video and digital technologies have transformed artistic production and visual culture. This session explores how new media reshape our perception of images and our relationship to contemporary art.
Art in a Global Context | 16.06.2027
With Anaël Daoud (EN)
Contemporary artists engage with issues such as migration, memory, postcolonialism, ecology and social change. Artistic perspectives from different regions of the world offer new ways of understanding global challenges and cultural exchange.
Reading Contemporary Art | 14.07.2027
With Bettina Steinbrügge (EN)
The concluding session applies the methods developed throughout the seminar to the analysis of contemporary artworks. Together, participants will discuss key questions facing art today:
- What role does art play in contemporary society?
- How does it respond to the challenges of our time?
- What new forms and practices continue to emerge?
Tickets & practical information
| Where: | Mudam Auditorium |
| Duration: | 01:30 |
| With: | Director general Bettina Steinbrügge and Mudam curatorial team |
| Language: | EN/FR/DE |
| Access: | |
| Series of 10 lectures: | €100 (regular price) | €50 (Carte Mudam à 2) | €25 (Kulturpass) |
| Auditors, per session: | €10 | €5 (Carte Mudam à 2) |
| Free for students and under 21 | |
| Max. attendance: | 128 |
Goals
By the end of the seminar series, participants will have acquired a solid introduction to the history of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art. They will be able to describe, analyse and contextualise artworks, identify major artistic movements and their key figures and engage critically with modern and contemporary artistic practices. The seminar also aims to strengthen participants' ability to interpret artworks independently and to approach contemporary art with greater confidence and curiosity.
Certificates
The Mudam Akademie lecture series is organised in collaboration with the Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, Service de la Formation des Adultes.
You will receive a certificate if you attend at least 70% of the classes.
Biography
Bettina Steinbrügge is Director General of Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand–Duc Jean. From 2014 to 2022, she was the director of Kunstverein in Hamburg. She has directed Halle für Kunst Lüneburg, was curator at La Kunsthalle Mulhouse and senior curator and collection director at Belvedere Wien, Vienna. She has taught at Leuphana University Lüneburg and HEAD in Geneva. From 2014 to 2022 she was Professor of Art Theory at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HfbK) in Hamburg. From 2007 to 2017 she was a member of the programme team of the Forum Expanded at the Berlin International Film Festival. Steinbrügge has contributed to and edited numerous publications, most recently A Model (Roma & Mudam, 2025), the first volume of a series she edits, what looks good today may not look good tomorrow: The Legacy of Michel Majerus (Mudam & Sternberg Press, 2023); Korakrit Arunanondchai: Songs for Living Songs for Dying (Mousse Publishing, 2023) and Proof of Stake: Technological Claims (Lenz Press, 2022). Bettina Steinbrügge is a member of the board of directors of Villa Romana e.V. in Florence, the advisory board of the Museum of Progress in Vienna and the Saarland Cultural Heritage Foundation in Saarbrücken, as well as the acquisition committee of the Fundación Bancaria “la Caixa” in Barcelona.