junger westen 2025 Art Prize – Painting

September 21 - November 16, 2025 

The art prize „junger westen“, named after the artist group of the same name, is the oldest municipal award for pioneering art in Germany since 1945. Established in 1948 by the city of Recklinghausen, it has been open to the public since 1956 and is awarded every two years in different categories, 2025 for painting. 

From 690 submissions, the jury selected 22 artists for the group exhibition: Annabelle Agbo Godeau, Johanna Ehmke, Nicholas Grafia, Rahel grote Lambers, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Lucas Kaiser, Tobias Kerger, Jody Korbach, Gašper Kunšič, Sojeong Lee, Janis Löhrer, Line Lyhne, Sol Namgung, Minh Phuong Nguyen, Matthias Noggler, Aduni Ogunsan, Jan-Luka Schmitz, Tariano Schneider, Rui Suzuki, Kiriakos Tompolidis, Salwa Wittwer and Seoyoung Yun. At the same time, the jury selected Jeehye Song as the winner of the art prize. All of the works are representative of what characterises painting today. As in the last two editions, the winner will be given an entire floor of the Kunsthalle. This year, Jeehye Song's work will be on display across the entire middle floor, while the group exhibition of the nominees will be on the other two floors.

“The jury unanimously decided to award the prize to the artist Jeehye Song,” said museum director Dr. Nico Anklam. "Her painting not only impresses with its extraordinary pictorial invention and formal precision, but also with a depth of content that goes far beyond a purely visual experience. Song's work moves between painterly tradition, contemporary visual language and conceptual reflection - and she uses precisely this field of tension to raise central questions about the role of the artist and the function of the medium of painting in the present. In doing so, she remains deeply rooted, in the best sense, in the traditions of the genre of painting." 

Jeehye Song completed her studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 2021 as a master student of Prof. Andreas Schulze. She has already received numerous awards and sponsorships at home and abroad. She has also had solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad, including in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Italy, South Korea and the USA. She was already represented in the exhibition for the art prize junger westen for painting in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Paula Modersohn-Becker Art Prize in 2024.

This year's jury members were Prof. Shannon Bool, artist, Professor of Painting at the Kunsthochschule Mainz, Madeleine Frey, Director of the Max Ernst Museum, Brühl, Dr. Linda Walther, Director of the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop, Christoph Westermeier, Chairman of the Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf, and Dr. Nico Anklam, Director of the Museums of the City of Recklinghausen and Director of the Kunsthalle, Holger Freitag, Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Science and City History of the City of Recklinghausen, Christoph Tesche, Mayor of the City of Recklinghausen and Kerstin Weber-Baumann, Research Assistant at the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen (deputy).

The junger westen art prize is the first prize for art to be awarded by a German municipality after 1945. Initiated in 1948, it commemorates the junger westen group of artists founded a year earlier in Recklinghausen around the painters Gustav Deppe, Thomas Grochowiak, Emil Schumacher, Heinrich Siepmann, Hans Werdehausen and the sculptor Ernst Hermanns. It is awarded as a sponsorship prize of the city of Recklinghausen with the support of the Cultural Foundation of the Stadtsparkasse Recklinghausen. Thanks to additional funding from the Rotary Club Recklinghausen and the Bernd & Ulrike Tönjes Stiftung, the prize has been endowed with 20,000 euros since the last edition in 2023 (previously 10,000 euros). The 75th anniversary of the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen is also being celebrated with the 40th edition of the prize.

The opening will take place on Saturday, September 20, 2025 at 5 p.m. in the Kunsthalle.

Public guided tours every Sunday at noon. 
 
A catalogue will be published at the end of the exhibition.  

The Kunstpreis junger westen is sponsored by the Cultural Foundation of Stadtsparkasse Recklinghausen, the Rotary Club Recklinghausen and the Ulrike and Bernd Tönjes Foundation.