Collages. The Meerwein Collection. Third section

The collecting of paper in its various everyday appearances, as well as the re-evaluation of cutouts and fragments by removing or adding, provide the basis of the collage. As an artistic principle, inscribed in the history of art by the avant-garde and above all by Dadaism, the experimental and open approach created an opportunity to connect different levels of time and reality.

Collecting collages became Gerhard Meerwein's principle, for almost four decades he followed the artistic technique, and in doing so assembled his unique collection. More than 400 collages, as well as the library that had grown in parallel with the collection, were donated in 2015 to the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck by the architect, interior architect and professor emeritus at the Mainz University of Applied Sciences.

The first section concentrated on the personality of the collector and depicted thematic focuses of the collected collages. At the heart of the second section were contemporary positions, which the collector was continuously affiliated with over many years, both on cordial and on artistic terms. Finally, the third section connects the Meerwein Collection with the museum's holdings and displays the artistic and historical intersections that constitute the fascination of the collage.