Art Collections Chemnitz

Today, the art collections on Theaterplatz are among the largest civic collections in Germany and house all genres of artistic production, from painting and sculpture to graphic art and arts and crafts, with an important focus on expressionism, textiles and contemporary art.

The Gunzenhauser Museum is the most recent addition to the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. It houses the collection of the Munich gallery owner Dr Alfred Gunzenhauser with more than 3,000 works by 270 artists with a focus on art from the turn of the century around 1900, Expressionism, New Objectivity and abstraction in the 20th century.

Since its reopening in 1994/1995, the old monastery and palace building has once again housed the extensive collections on the history of Chemnitz, whose most beautiful pieces of painting and sculpture, historical textiles, jewellery, furniture and everyday objects from the 12th to 20th centuries can be seen in the permanent exhibition Bildersaal Chemnitzer Geschichte. The museum organises special exhibitions on cultural and art-historical themes every year.

Villa Esche was designed in 1902 by the Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde as a family residence for the Chemnitz textile entrepreneur Herbert Esche. Henry van de Velde (1863-1957) was one of the most sought-after artists in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. With the aim of harmonising function and aesthetics, he strove for an artistic reform of all areas of life. Villa Esche was his first architectural commission in Germany and was of great importance to his work.

The city of Chemnitz is renovating Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's childhood home for the Capital of Culture Year 2025. Under the leadership and responsibility of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, a museum dedicated to the artist is being created there, which aims to tell the story of the life and work of the expressionist, his connection to Chemnitz and Rottluff and the early years of the Brücke artists with artworks, archives, documents and media formats.