What is in danger of disappearing becomes an image. Man – Nature – Art

It is a truism, both unsettling and fascinating: everything captured in images no longer exists, or at least no longer in the form depicted. In art, the theme of transience is often expressed symbolically, as a memento mori or a melancholic meditation on the disappearance of things. Even images of dreams, encounters with people, and explorations of nature depict only fleeting moments. Sometimes the fleeting becomes the explicit subject of a depiction that nevertheless seeks to capture it: clouds are constantly changing, snow melts quickly, trees blossom for only a short time.
In times of climate change, the awareness that our entire environment is changing rapidly has become ever-present. That is why we view works of landscape art in particular with fresh eyes today. They depict a natural world that has always been shaped by human influence. A landscape is no longer merely a beautiful sight, but a threatened ecosystem.
The exhibition is structured around such moments of realisation. It presents well-known works as well as rare or previously unseen pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries, drawn from the collections of the Lenbachhaus, the Historical Society of Upper Bavaria, the Christoph Heilmann Foundation, the Munich Secession, the Gabriele Münter and Johannes Eichner Foundation, the KiCo Foundation and the Förderverein Lenbachhaus e. V. Art engages with the ephemeral and with the awareness of transience. In this, it aligns with the concept of the museum, which seeks to collect, preserve and communicate works of art.

#WasZuVerschwindenDrohtWirdBild on Instagram (external link, opens in a new window)

Last edited on 15.04.2026