Bettina Horn, the Berlin-based art collector and philanthropist, has announced her intention to donate the Horn Collection—over 500 works of German Expressionist art—to the state of Schleswig-Holstein, ensuring its permanent home at Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig. The collection includes major pieces by Emil Nolde, Ernst Barlach, Christian Rohlfs, and members of the Brücke group such as Kirchner, Schmidt-Rottluff, Heckel, and Pechstein, as well as contemporary sculptures. Parts of the collection have been exhibited at Schloss Gottorf since 1988, and a dedicated gallery was established in 1995. After a two-year international tour, the works will return to the newly renovated Galerie der Moderne in July.
This donation matters because it secures a major private collection of German Expressionism for a public institution, strengthening the Landesmuseen Schleswig-Holstein's holdings in classical modernism and cementing Schloss Gottorf's status as a leading center for Expressionist art. The gift also provides long-term planning security for the museum and fulfills the wish of Bettina Horn's late husband, Rolf Horn, who founded the collection. The Rolf und Bettina Horn Foundation will eventually be absorbed into the Stiftung Landesmuseen, making the transfer effectively a gift to the state.