Welcome to the Possehl Foundation

Where we come from

In his will, Emil Possehl, a businessman and senator of Lübeck, bequeathed all his business interests to the Possehl Foundation, which ist now 103 years old.

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The Foundation awards four prizes, including the Possehl Prize for International Art. The prizewinner in 2022 is Matt Mullican, whose retrospective began in Lübeck in July 2022 and ends in January 2023.

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What we promote

We support community life in the Hanseatic city in a multitude of ways. Up to 500 applications per year reflect the diversity of the non-profit and benevolent work carried out by the people of Lübeck.

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Heinke Both

In the exhibition NOIR MONTER the artist Heinke Both, winner of the Possehl Prize for Lübeck Art 2021, presents a series of lithographs that she has developed in an experimental process with the artist and printer Lars Lundqvist. The exhibition takes place in the Chain Store at Kulturwerft Gollan from 9 to 30 October 2022. A vernissage is being held on 9 October at 12 midday.

Cultural Sparks*

In 2020, right at the beginning of the Corona-crisis, the Possehl Foundation started the large-scale project Cultural Sparks* in order to support cultural life in Lübeck. New formats and combinations have been created, performances have taken place in new venues – such as empty shops, playgrounds, on water, in the woods, in public places and on walls ...

Our publications

To mark our jubilee we published a book and a magazine illustrating the history and the current role of the Foundation and the Hanseatic City of Lübeck: “POSSEHL History and Character of a Foundation” by the historian Axel Schildt, and “GUT UND SCHÖN? The Possehl Foundation in Lübeck” by journalists from the economics magazine brand eins Wissen.