HENNING J. CLAASSEN

"I actually always collected art with the intention of exhibiting the works in a gallery at some point."

Henning J. Claassen was born in Lüneburg in 1944 as the son of a four-generation baker's family. He went to secondary school in Lüneburg, completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk and then studied economics and psychology in Los Angeles/USA. After returning from the USA, he became self-employed at the age of 27 and founded a number of successful companies over the years. Alongside his professional career, he became interested in contemporary art at an early stage and began collecting paintings and sculptures from the 20th and 21st centuries. The works, which were collected from all over the world over a period of 50 years, are now part of the "Kunnstsammlung Henning J. Claassen". After selling his companies, he looked for a location for his art collection in Lüneburg. A small part of the collection had already found a suitable home in his "Kunstgalerie Parkhotel de Wiemsel" in the Netherlands. But the search for a suitable location for an "art museum in Lüneburg" was a matter close to the heart of the city's honorary citizen and after numerous plans and approaches, the collection found its perfect home in the centre of Lüneburg at St.-Ursula-Weg 1.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER