Grohmann Museum

The Grohmann Museum at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in Wisconsin houses a collection devoted to the historical development and visual depiction of human work. The institution was founded in 2001, when businessman Eckhart Grohmann donated his art collection to the university. The museum building, a renovated structure dating from 1924, opened its doors in 2007. The heart of the collection, which comprises more than two thousand works, is a large group of paintings by the German Romantic painter Carl Spitzweg, including famous pieces such as The Bookworm and The Poor Poet. The collection is rounded out by works by European and American artists such as Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Max Liebermann, and Norman Rockwell. The exhibits document the changing world of work from the 17th to the 21st century, from skilled crafts through industrialization to the paradoxes of modern society. Many of the works come from German and Dutch artists. In the galleries, whose entrance hall is adorned with contemporary artworks by Hans Dieter Tylle, you get a deep look into the history of labor, complemented by rotating special exhibitions.