The Folkwang Museum was founded in 1902 in Hagen by Karl Ernst Osthaus (1874–1921). From its beginnings as an art collection with natural history and crafts collections, it quickly developed into one of the most progressive museums for modern art in the world. The Folkwang acquired and displayed the first public collection of works by Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh and Matisse. Following the death of the museum’s founder in 1921, the Osthaus collection was acquired for Essen by the newly established Folkwang Museum Association – an initiative by Essen entrepeneurs and citizens. In 1922, it was combined with the city art museum, established in 1906, to form the new Folkwang Museum.

A main focal point of the collection is 19th century art and classic modernism as well as post 1945 photography and painting. The collection includes 550 paintings and 250 sculptures, around 14,000 sketches and prints as well as around 98,000 photographs and related objects. A highlight is a collection of old and non-European art as well as European and non-European arts and crafts (4000 BC – 19th century) comprising around 1800 objects.

Osthaus’s contemporary thinking was the reason for the Folkwang’s involvement in photography. The first exhibition of international professional photography already took place in Hagen in 1903. The Essen Folkwang continued this tradition during the Weimar Republic. Today, the photography collection, established in 1978 by Paul Vogt, includes work by many of the most important photographers of their time. Since 2010 the German Poster Museum belongs to the Folkwang Museum as separate department. It houses the largest collection of poster art worldwide. The collection covers around 340,000 political, commercial and cultural posters from the beginning of this art form to the present day.

The new building opened at the end of January 2010 and was designed by David Chipperfield Architects, London/Berlin. The museum now contains rooms of the highest architectural and technical standard worthy of its outstanding collection and international exhibitions. Now, the museum faces the city with an outdoor flight of stairs and an inviting entrance courtyard. This architectural gesture symbolises the traditional self-perception the Folkswang Museum has of itself as a centre for arts and cultural education that is open to everyone.