Powerful, elegant, fascinating: hardly any other animal has inspired art over the centuries as much as the horse. Since ancient times, it has stood for strength, movement and freedom – and at the same time has accompanied people as a helper, status symbol and loyal companion. 

The exhibition invites visitors on a journey through art history. It shows how artists from different eras observed, staged and imbued the horse with meaning: as a prestigious companion to rulers and nobles, as an indispensable force in agriculture and transport, or as part of sport and leisure. 

Based on the collection of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, a multifaceted overview unfolds from antiquity through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque to the modern era. Selected loans from German, Belgian and Dutch museums and private collections complement the presentation. 

On display are works by Albrecht Dürer, Esaias van de Velde the Elder, Johannes Stradanus, Peter Paul Rubens, Philips Wouwerman, Gaspar de Crayer, Pieter van Bloemen, Francisco de Goya, Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, among others.

The exhibition coincides with two internationally significant equestrian events taking place in Aachen in 2026, the year of the horse: the CHIO Aachen (22 May to 24 May 2026) and the FEI World Championships (11 August to 23 August 2026). 

Curators: Sarvenaz Ayooghi and Wibke Birth