Since it was founded in 1990, the Museum Moderner Kunst Wörlen has looked after the extensive art collection of the Wörlen Foundation, which essentially comprises over 1,500 works by Georg Philipp Wörlen (1886-1954) and numerous works by his friends from the artist communities "Der Fels" and "Donau-Wald-Gruppe". From August 2022, the museum will present works exclusively from the collection on the second floor of the building for a longer period of time, alongside a number of permanent loans - including three of the famous "Mannequin Migofs" by Bernard Schultze. On the one hand, the Wörlen Foundation's collection will be visible in the museum and its significance for the region will be brought to mind; on the other hand, this will allow the public to encounter well-known and beloved works as well as discover new treasures.
On display are delicate, partly colored drawings by Alfred Kubin and Otto Modersohn with dedications to Georg Philipp Wörlen, as well as exquisite prints by Franz von Stuck, Paula Deppe, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Egon Schiele. The artists of the "Danube Forest Group" are represented with paintings of women, animals and landscapes, which demonstrate their group affiliation in their choice of motifs and their individuality in their heterogeneous style.
Over the course of time, the core collection of Expressionist and New Objectivity works has also been supplemented by prints, photographs, sculptures and large-format paintings by contemporary artists such as Christian Ludwig Attersee, Franz Bernhard, Max Bill, Jürgen Brodwolf, Sandro Chia, Gunter Damisch, Karl Ehlers, Lothar Fischer, Bernhard Heiliger, Evelyn Hofer, Alfred Hrdlicka, Dirk Hupe, Gudrun Kemsa, Astrid Lowack, Zoran Mušič, Josef Pillhofer, Mel Ramos, Erwin Reiter, Dieter Roth, Emil Schumacher, Anton Stankowski, Hans Staudacher, Antoni Tàpies, Günther Uecker, Hannsjörg Voth and Fritz Wotruba. Artists based in the region are also represented with works of all genres, including Sepp Auer, Waltraud Danzig, Hubert Huber, Rudolf Klaffenböck, Franz Stanislaus Mrkvicka, Pia Mühlbauer, Arnulf Rainer, Annerose and Alois Riedl, Karl Schleinkofer and Patrick Schmierer.
The presentation is not strictly chronological, but nevertheless follows the decades and their art movements room by room and has various surprises in store for the audience.