Date

Circa 1910

The Düsseldorf Academy was founded in 1773 by the Elector Palatine Carl Theodor as "Kurfürstlich-Pfälzische Academie der Maler, Bildhauer- und Baukunst" (Elector of Palatine's Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture). In 1819 it was designated the Royal Academy of Arts for the Rhine provinces of Prussia. The Kunstakademie, which had occupied part of the castle since 1821, was rehoused in a new Renaissance-style building by Hermann Riffart (1840-1919). Today it is a public university serving the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Academy has produced many outstanding artists. It is perhaps most closely associated with the Düsseldorf School of Painting, named after a group of painters who studied or taught at the Academy in the 1830s and 1840s and who had a lasting impact on landscape painting. Other famous names include Arnold Böcklin, Paul Klee, Joseph Beuys, and Eugen Gomringer.