8 
MuseoMag   N°II 2024 
A curated selection of works from our modern and contemporary art collection is now on display at the Nationalmusée um 
Fëschmaart. 
COLLECTIONS/REVELATIONS 
Unveiling our new permanent presentation of modern and contemporary art 
The long-awaited day has finally arrived! After 
almost four years, the permanent exhibition of 
modern and contemporary art reopened to the 
public this March after extensive renovation work, 
including a brand-new parquet floor. We are deligh- 
ted that the diverse array of works from the collec- 
tion of modern and contemporary art will once again 
be on view on the 4th floor of the Nationalmusée um 
Fëschmaart. 
THE THEMATIC MODEL 
For the new permanent display of our modern and 
contemporary art collection, we opted for a thematic 
approach, similar to the manner in which many other 
art museums around the world choose to present 
their modern art collections. Rigid classifications 
according to periods and schools can be limiting, 
failing to adequately reflect the complex inter- 
connections and links in the history of art. Conse- 
quently, describing modern art as a single, linear 
and evolutionary phenomenon becomes impossible, 
just as artistic practices do not neatly begin and 
end in a clear chronological fashion. 
When Tate Modern opened in 2000, it was one of 
the first major museums to deviate from the tradi- 
tional way of presenting modern art to what they 
described in their press release as a “radical break 
with the tradition of exhibiting works in chronologi- 
cal order and by school”. The objective was to show- 
case the permanent collection of modern art from 
1900 onwards, arranged in four thematic groups, with 
the works on display covering the entire 
20th 
cen- 
tury. This innovative approach not only transformed 
the way museums present their collections today, 
but also reshaped our understanding of art 
history, diverging from the conventional perspec- 
tive of a single, definitive art canon. Since then, 
numerous museums around the globe have em- 
braced a similar approach. 
FROM CHAOS TO NATURE 
The five themes we have chosen for Collections/ 
Revelations include: Chaos, Nature, Forms and 
Shapes, Faces and Colour. They evoke ideas and 
ways of thinking that are not exclusively tied to spe- 
cific times or movements in art history. Instead, they 
serve as overarching concepts that have been conti- 
nuously explored and questioned by artists across 
© 
MNAHA 
/ 
tom 
lucas