Cologne is a medieval city in the west of Germany. It has three art galleries all of which I am visiting on my trip to Germany.

Wallraf Richartz Gallery

This gallery is in the centre of Cologne, costs 8 Euros to enter and is well worth it. The collection has three distinct areas of the permanent collection:

• 19th and 20th century art
• Baroque art
• Medieval art

Paul Signac

Signac was a leading exponent of Neo-impressionism and worked in a style called pointillism, using dots of bright colour. This gallery has a wide collection of his work. I find his work so beautiful, bright and uplifting.

German Impressionism

It took 20 years for the impressionism whirlwind to arrive in Germany. I don’t know much about this movement but I am very impressed, particularly by the work of an artist called Gustave Caillebotte. It seems like his work was largely forgotten for many years, but this gallery has on display many of his works, restoring his place amongst some of the greats of impressionism.

French Impressionism

The gallery also has some great examples from two of my favourite French impressionists, Alfred Sisley and Maurice de Vlaminck. Maurice de Vlaminck is such a wonderful artist, I love his work so much! There is also a fabulous Rodin statue and a great Cezanne.

Medieval art

The gallery has an entire floor dedicated to medieval art, most from the 13th to 14th century. It always blows my mind how these artworks have survived, and how the colours are still so vibrant. Here are some of my highlights.

The Schnutgen Museum

The Schnutgen Museum in Cologne houses a fabulous collection of medieval and Christian art. Its main collection is housed in a beautiful old basilica of a church, one of the most unique settings for a museum I have ever seen. The name comes from the man who started the collection, donating it all to the city of Cologne. The entry fee is 7 Euros but for an extra 3, you can also visit the adjoining ethnological museum, the Rautenstrauch Josef Museum. I visited both. It is slightly hidden away, you would not stumble upon it, it was very quiet which I liked, but maybe they need to advertise more. As it was fantastic!!

Death

Medieval life had an obsession with death. They feared it, had many theories about what it meant, and represented it often in their art. There are some fascinating pieces in the collection.

Christian statues and carvings

The gallery has a wonderful array of medieval artworks, mostly in the form of carving. Some are quite strange, for example the carving of St Denis holding the top half of his own head! All are exquisitly carved, the detail of the drape of a cloak or the curl of hair is so amazing, considering how old these pieces are.

As well as carvings, there are many other paintings and objects. Two of my favourites were a 6th century oil lamp and a 12th century gilded altar panel.

The Rautenstrauch Josef Museum

I spent less time here, but as was 10 Euros to see both I thought I would take a look. It’s an incredible modern gallery space and the objects, collected in the 19th century from all over the globe, are presented impeccably. The main objects I was interested in were the buddhist artefacts, as this is something I collect.

The Museum of East Asian Art

I was so excited to visit this gallery! I love Japanese, Indian, Thai, Chinese etc buddhist arts, especially buddha heads and bodhisattvas. It was 10 Euros entry, and is set in a single storey white, minimalist building next to a lake. It should have been everything I like in a gallery. BUT it was not 😦

I was so disappointed. The art in it is all fine, but just almost nothing I like. They had a couple of bodhisattvas, and that was it. I had hoped for more. Very frustrating. As a gallery it is a nice space, just not for me. Here are the three objects I liked. I feel sad just writing that sentence.