Essen is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr district, the largest urban area in Germany. Because of its central location, Essen is often regarded as the Ruhr's "secret capital".

The city dates back to the Essen women's monastery founded before 850. In addition to this monastery, Werden Monastery, founded by Liudger around 800, was a center of late antique and early Christian textual tradition. Elevated to the status of a free imperial city by Emperor Charles IV in the 14th century, Essen had been an arms manufacturer since the late Middle Ages and, with industrialization, rose to become one of the most important centers of the mining industry. After a massive decline in heavy industry from the mid-1960s onwards, Essen developed a strong service sector as part of structural change.

With the Museum Folkwang, Essen boasts a renowned collection of modern art. It was opened in Hagen in 1902 by Karl Ernst Osthaus under the name Folkwang Museum and long played a pioneering role in the field of modern art. After Osthaus's death in 1921, his collection was sold to Essen. The collection has been housed there ever since. During the Nazi era, the museum lost 1,400 works, including significant parts of its collection, in the "Degenerate Art" campaign. After the war, these losses were largely replaced through repurchases or new acquisitions.

There was a temporary exhibition in the museum about the relationship between Oskar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler.

Oskar Kokoschka (1886 – 1980) was an Austrian artist best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.
Alma Mahler (1879 – 1964) was the stepdaughter of painter Carl Moll and an Austrian socialite. In 1902 she married 19 years older composer Gustav Mahler but he died in 1911.

From 1912, Oskar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler lived together. This three-year, intense and possessive, but ultimately unfulfilled love resulted in several significant works of art. A passionate exchange of letters testifies to the extreme emotional states of both partners.

In 1915, Alma married Walter Gropius. Throughout her marriage to Gropius, Alma engaged in an affair with author Franz Werfel. Following her separation from Gropius, Alma and Werfel eventually married.

After she left him, Kokoschka had a doll made in Alma Mahler's image.


Oskar Kokoschka (1886 – 1980)
Frau in Blau / Woman in Blue / 1919