BADEN-BADEN, GERMANY.- Museum new building of Richard Meier is of worldwide interest The "Sammlung Frieder Burda" in Baden-Baden will be opened on 22nd October 2004 Private foundation bears all expenses / Internationally acclaimed art collection. Baden-Baden. The new museum for the "Sammlung Frieder Burda" (Frieder Burda Collection) will be opened in Baden-Baden on 22nd October 2004, after an approximately two year construction period. The building was designed by the renowned New York architect Richard Meier. Minister-president of Baden-Württemberg Erwin Teufel will attend to the ceremony in Baden-Baden on 22nd of October. The internationally respected museum is available to the public free of charge on 23rd and 24th October 2004.

The new building, with almost 1000 square meters of exhibition space, is particularly noteworthy due to its direct connection to the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. For the first time in Germany, a state commission and a private cultural commitment are linked together, here, in this unique form. The opening exhibition with artworks from the "Sammlung Frieder Burda" will extend over the neighbouring Staatliche Kunsthalle.

A clear structure for the museum's new building - Richard Meier, who has constructed various noteworthy museum buildings, including the Museum of Applied Art in Frankfurt, The Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, compares the new building's design to "a large villa". For the architect, it is a "Jewel in the Park," on Baden-Baden's famous Lichtentaler Allee. The new museum captivates by virtue of its clear structure, as well as by the application of light and glass. It creates an alternate relationship from inside to outside, from art in nature and from the verdant Allee into the art world. Thus a highly sophisticated "daylight museum" is created.

Richard Meier is known for his superior handling of buildings in sensitive environments. Meier: "The new building is harmoniously developing along the Lichtentaler Allee. The result is a compatible ensemble with the Staatliche Kunsthalle". The outer facade's powder coated aluminum plates (75 x 120 centimeters) will be maintained in a muted white - the typical color of the buildings of Richard Meier. In Meier's appraisal, the new building has the effect of being "very open, very transparent and light".

Incomparable collection of late artworks by Picasso - The "Sammlung Frieder Burda" has its roots in Expressionism and today comprises more than 500 paintings, sculptures and works on paper. The focus is on classical modern and contemporary art. With its total of eight late works by Picasso the Collection owns a dense selection of his late artwork which is almost beyond compare. In the forties Picasso was a central figure for the American Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. And yet they created an independent American art tradition: pictures which address their observer emotionally with their highly-expressive color qualities. In addition to paintings by Gottlieb, de Kooning, Pollock and Rothko, the Collection contains a significant work by Clyfford Still - a rarity in European museums.

The Collection encompasses excellently a selection of German post-war artwork. Georg Baselitz is brilliantly represented. Two famous works from his early companion in Berlin, Eugen Schönebeck, are also included in the collection. The visitor is especially drawn to Anselm Kiefer´s almost six meter long painting "Böhmen liegt am Meer."

The most important comprehensive works collections in the entire Burda archive are from Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Arnulf Rainer. Works taken from all stages of their lives offer a retrospective overview of the artists, who influenced the contemporary art decisively. Frieder Burda fortifies his recent dedication to younger generations of artists. The "Sammlung Frieder Burda" plans to present the artworks in the new museum to the public in successive installations. Each year a big alternating exhibition shall be realized.

The "Stiftung Frieder Burda" (Frieder Burda Foundation) bears all expenses - The builder is the "Stiftung Frieder Burda", which was founded in 1998 by Baden-Baden's patron of the arts. The most important goal of the foundation is to make the internationally acclaimed Collection permanently accessible to the public.

The collector is set on an "Art Axis," stretching from Frankfurt via Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden, to Strasbourg and Basel. The "Stiftung Frieder Burda" will bear all of the approximately 20 million euro costs. Public funding will not be employed. This also pertains to the operating costs of the new museum. Frieder Burda: "The erection of the new building for the collection is a dream coming true for me. The artworks should be enjoyed by everyone. An art center is emerging in Baden-Baden with importance above and beyond the state of Baden-Württemberg alone".