Beethoven by Warhol
Special exhibition from September 9, 2026 to April 5, 2027
The Beethoven-Haus is dedicating a comprehensive museum exhibition to Andy Warhol’s artistic engagement with Beethoven. Titled Beethoven by Warhol, the exhibition brings together more than 100 objects from international and regional collections. Particular attention is given to the creation of the well-known four-part screen print portfolio BEETHOVEN, which was made immediately before the artist's sudden death on February 22, 1987. Not only does it rank among his last printmaking works and mark the conclusion of his body of commissioned portraits, it is also regarded as an icon of the reception of Beethoven in the 20th century. The two source images – reproductions of the famous Beethoven portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler and the autograph of the Moonlight Sonata – come from the Beethoven-Haus.
Highlights of the special exhibition include previously unpublished works by Warhol on paper and canvas, trial proofs, and numerous ephemera from the context in which the Beethoven portrait was created (photographs, invitation cards, posters, and more). Further focal points of the special exhibition are the record covers designed by Warhol and his collaboration with the Bonn gallerist Hermann Wünsche. From the 1970s onward, Wünsche brought the pop art pioneer to the Rhineland on several occasions and first presented the Beethoven portraits to the public in 1989 at the Beethovenhalle, as part of the city of Bonn's 2000th anniversary celebrations. The special exhibition, for which Minister of State for Culture and the Media Wolfram Weimer has assumed patronage, opens up new perspectives on Warhol's unusual artistic engagement with Ludwig van Beethoven and documents a defining chapter in the cultural history of the Bonn Republic.
Voices on the exhibition
"This exhibition is a wonderful prelude to the 2027 Beethoven commemorative year, in which Germany marks the 200th anniversary of the Bonn composer's death. Andy Warhol brilliantly captured the worldwide fascination with Beethoven in his iconic portrait. It is the perfect moment to dedicate an exhibition of its own to this portrait for the first time."Wolfram Weimer, Minister of State for Culture and the Media and patron of the exhibition at the Beethoven-Haus Bonn
“Almost everyone knows Warhol’s portraits of Beethoven, yet their connections to Bonn, the Beethoven-Haus, and Warhol’s oeuvre as a whole have never truly been explored. We are now dedicating a major special exhibition to them, taking over our entire museum. Featuring numerous previously unseen objects, the exhibition reveals for the first time how, shortly before his own death, Andy Warhol arrived at an entirely new and contemporary vision of Beethoven.”Malte Boecker, Director of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, on the Warhol sofa