Kunstakademie Düsseldorf

The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf features a heavy, ornate facade topped by a distinct, oversized bronze sculpture of a woman holding a torch. This building serves as the city’s premier art academy, established in seventeen seventy-three. In the nineteen seventies, the school became a battleground when the administration fired Joseph Beuys for occupying the secretariat with rejected students. Beuys stayed on the steps, demanding free access for everyone, while the academy remained locked behind these massive wooden doors.