Ernst Barlach Stiftung is a Foundation dedicated to the management and enhancement of the work of the German expressionist sculptor Ernst Barlach. The foundation was established on January 1, 1994. Its three museum sites are located in Gūstrow: in the artist's studio-house, where he lived from 1910 to 1938, and in the two exhibition spaces of the Gertrudenkapelle and the Ausstellungsforum. The museum houses over 300 sculptures, 1000 drawings, 120 notebooks, 110 literary manuscripts, 230 prints, 24 printing blocks, the library and other testimonies of Barlach's life and work.
The museums house the largest collection of the artist's works in the world. Works from all eras and creative areas of the artist - from his time in Dresden as a master pupil of Robert Diez to the last year of his life in Güstrow - make up the valuable inventory of sculptures, graphics, drawings and autographs.