Otto Ritschl Prize

The Otto Ritschl Prize is awarded every five years and is associated with an extensive exhibition of the prizewinner’s work at Museum Wiesbaden.

Prizewinners are selected by a jury of five, consisting of the director of Wiesbaden Museum and a member of the board of the Museum Association Ritschl. In a first stage, the jury selects up to 4 preferred candidates according to predefined criteria, whose credentials are examined and evaluated in greater detail by Museum Wiesbaden. Results of the museum’s deliberations are then presented to the entire jury in a joint meeting and winner selected by majority vote.

The Otto Ritschl Prize is awarded to internationally distinguished artists whose work offers a unique perspective on color and investigations of color-space.

The Otto Ritschl Prize has been awarded four times to date:

  • 2001 to Gotthard Graubner
  • 2003 to Ulrich Erben
  • 2009 to Kazuo Katase
  • 2015 to Katharina Grosse
  • 2020 to Slawomir Elsner

The Museum Association Ritschl purchased paintings by Ulrich Erben, Kazuo Katase and Katharina Grosse for Museum Wiesbaden’s Abstract Icons Collection, which already included a work by Gotthard Graubner, so that the Museum Association Ritschl made no further acquisition.