The current Kunstmuseum Bochum (Bochum Museum of Art) opened in 1960 as one of the first museums for contemporary art under the name "Städtische Kunstgalerie für Kunst nach 1945" (City Art Gallery for Art Post 1945).Today, the institute collects, conserves and displays international 20th and 21st century art. The earliest paintings and graphic works in the collection, comprising around 4500 pieces, belong to Czech symbolism and cubism and date from around 1900. A group of sculptures by Otto Gutfreund complete this collection of exemplary art. The museum also houses a comprehensive collection of work on paper by Lovis Corinth. Another collection highlight is a series of twelve drawings by Kasimir Malevic. All the important German expressionists are represented here – primarily with graphic works but also with paintings. In addition to an important painting by Wilhelm Morgner, a significant number of his drawings can be found in the collection. Surrealist art with its international and time-displaced form make up a significant part of the city’s art collection. Works by the COBRA group deserve a special mentioning here. German art since the 1950s plays an important role in the collection in terms of quality and quantity with abstract, informal and figurative art on display. Willi Baumeister and HAP Grieshaber have a special place in the collection with numerous drawings and prints. French art is represented by several examples of Abstraction-Création. Works from contemporary artists from Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have been added to the collection since the 1960s. Bochum was an early collector of photography (Josef Sudek among others). Outstanding single pieces in the collection include works by Francis Bacon, Frank Stella, Cy Twombly, Luise Nevelson or Nam June Paik. A small collection of Art Brut is also on display.