In its first years, the Sonderbund mounted some landmark exhibitions, successfully introducing French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modern Art to the western parts of Germany.
The lasting fame of the "Sonderbund" is founded on its three "International Art Exhibitions", 1910 and 1911 in Düsseldorf, and, especially, the 1912 Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne,[1][2] which supplied a breathtaking review of early modern art with numerous iconic works from artists including Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso and the neo-impressionists Henri-Edmond Cross and Paul Signac.
[3] The Board of Directors of the Sonderbund included many luminaries from the world of modern art,[4] such as Josef Feinhals, Herbert Eulenberg, Alfred Flechtheim, Karl Ernst Osthaus, Richard Reich, Max Creutz, Max Clarenbach, and Walter Cohen.
The organizers of the 1913 Armory Show were highly impressed by the exhibition in Cologne, and thus first rate European art soon made its way to the United States.
[5] In 2012, the Sonderbund of 1912 was reconstructed in an exhibition "1912 - Mission Moderne" at Wallraf Richartz Museum in Cologne.