History

Art professor and designer Arnold Bode from Kassel was the initiator of the first documenta. Originally planned as a secondary event to accompany the Bundesgartenschau, this attracted more than 130,000 visitors in 1955. The exhibition centred less on "contemporary art"--that is, art made after 1945--instead, Bode wanted to show the public works which had been known as "Entartete Kunst" in Germany during the