ALKERSUM.- The small town of Alkersum on the island of Föhr boasts a jewel of the arts that is one-of-a-kind worldwide. Exactly ten years ago, Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Frederik Paulsen opened the endowed Museum of West Coast Art (MKdW) here with an unmistakable concept for the museum: The top-calibre collection, which by now has more than 800 artworks on the theme of "Sea and Coast" and, to date, has shown 75 temporary exhibitions with exciting themes, enchants guests from all over the world. Since its opening on 31 July 2009, the museum has consistently attracted a high number of visitors, with up to 42,000 guests annually, and thus makes a crucial contribution to the development of cultural tourism in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. To mark the anniversary, two outstanding exhibitions have been curated: 10 Years of MKdW – Masterpieces (1 August 2019 to 12 January 2020) and 10 Years of MKdW – Contemporary (16 July 2019 to 12 January 2020).

After initially housing 450 works, the unique master collection of the MKdW today comprises more than 800 paintings and graphic artworks from the period 1830–1930. They all oscillate around the theme of the "Sea and Coast" along the neighbouring North Sea countries Norway, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands. It includes works by famous painters such as Edvard Munch, Piet Mondrian, Max Liebermann, Peder Severin Krøyer and Emil Nolde – as well as exceptional works by contemporary artists such as Jochen Hein, Mila Teshaieva, Denis Rouvre, Thomas Wrede and Anja Jensen. In addition, MKdW presents up to eight first-class temporary exhibitions each year.

To mark ten years of its existence, MKdW is showing two anniversary exhibitions. The exhibition 10 Years of MKdW – Masterpieces is under the patronage of the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It relates to the exhibition of contemporary art: 10 Years of MKdW – Contemporary and includes 100 significant works of art from the collection of MKdW, enriched by around 50 outstanding exhibits from major national and international museums as well as private collections. Many of the exhibits that have travelled specially are on show in Germany for the first time. Under the title 10 Years of MKdW – Contemporary are gathered four exciting photographic points of view from those west coast countries to which MKdW's programme is committed.