Joseph Beuys was born on the Lower Rhine. This is where he grew up, where he met people who left their marks on him, where he found his way to art – and where he often was out and about on his bike, as is typical for people from the Lower Rhine region. Anyone who will get on their bike as well in order to follow the Beuys & Bike cycling route has the opportunity of getting to know the artist and his home more closely in a relaxed manner.
Among other places, the route leads to the Kurhaus Kleve, where cyclists can visit Joseph Beuys’ first studio, to Moyland Castle in Bedburg-Hau, where a great part of the Beuys collection is exhibited, and to Viersen, where works of Beuys’ student Anatol are waiting to be discovered. Between the Beuys stations, other places worth seeing are also beckoning to the traveller. For example, the path leads past calm Kalkar, a town with Gothic-style gabled houses, the large St. Nicolai’s Church, and two towering windmills still bearing witness of past Medieval wealth. Xanten even offers a journey back in time to Ancient Rome, as the Landschaftsverband Rheinland invites to a historical break in the LVR-Archaeological Park Xanten with relics from the Colonia Ulpia Traiana.
This art-filled cycling tour gets body and mind into motion.
The sprawling landscape of the Lower Rhine in Germany’s west gave Joseph Beuys plenty of space for his ideas. To celebrate his 100th birthday in 2021, the “Beuys & Bike” route is making it possible to experience the man and artist, his ideas and works. Spanning roughly 300 kilometres, the cycling route starts out in Kleve and runs, among other places, through Krefeld, Mönchengladbach, Duisburg, and Düsseldorf, before reaching Leverkusen. It passes stations of Beuys’ life and work, such as the building where he was born, his first studio, the Art Academy, and museums that made his art known early on. Anyone out on their bike on these well-developed paths that are comfortable to ride will not only get to know Joseph Beuys from different angles, but also pass many interesting locations on either side of the Rhine. They may experience a travel through time, from Ancient Rome in Xanten to the post-modernist architecture icon in Mönchengladbach and urban street art at the Rhine in Krefeld. Suggestions on how to spend their well-earned breaks lead to busily-romantic sites such as the old town of Düsseldorf. The Beuys & Bike route is reminiscent of Joseph Beuys, his work, and his power with which he set so many things in motion. It was developed in cooperation with the ADFC tour experts.
A PLACE FOR ALL THE SENSES At the Museum Schloss Moyland, art, culture and nature enter into a lively relationship. Special features of the museum include not only its picturesque historic garden and architecture and extensive collection of modern and contemporary art, but also international exhibitions and a broad range of events. The Museum Schloss […]
On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), the Museum Kurhaus Kleve is showing a representative selection of its Beuys collection from May 7 to September 5, 2021 in the largest hall of the house, the so-called Wandelhalle. The monumental sculpture of the bathtub (1961/1987), the four-part work Untitled (Mein Kölner Dom), […]
