The exhibition "The Land of a Thousand Fires" is dedicated to the fascination that heavy industry in the Ruhr region has exerted on artists since the late 19th century. On the 12-meter level of the Ruhr Museum, it shows how painters and draughtsmen captured the industrial plants, landscape changes and the effects on people and the environment in their works. The exhibition reflects the development of industrial painting between traditional art movements and the emergence of photography, with the works reflecting different social and political attitudes - from euphoria to criticism - towards industrialization.
250 paintings and prints are on display for guests to view. They come from the 1,500-object collection of communications expert and historian Ludwig Schönefeld, which has been in the care of the Ruhr Museum since 2022. These works show both romantic and ideological traits.
