The Dawn of Modernism. From Impressionism to Expressionism to the Bauhaus
From 7 March 2026
The Gunzenhauser Museum houses the collection of Munich gallery owner Dr Alfred Gunzenhauser, with more than 3,000 works by 270 artists, focusing on art from the turn of the century around 1900, Expressionism, New Objectivity and 20th-century abstraction. With 380 works by Otto Dix, the museum has one of the world’s largest collections of the painter’s work. It also houses one of the largest collections of the Expressionist Alexej von Jawlensky. Other large collections include works by Willi Baumeister, Gabriele Münter, Conrad Felixmüller, Serge Poliakoff, Uwe Lausen and Johannes Grützke.
The collection traces the development from Impressionism to Expressionism to the Bauhaus with paintings by Félix Vallotton and Lovis Corinth, among others, through to Willi Baumeister and Kurt Schwitters.
At the end of the 19th century, young artists initially turned their attention to contemporary art in Paris. Against the backdrop of rigid, conservative art policy in the German Empire and what was perceived as stagnant official academic art, a series of secessions took place in quick succession. These focused on trends in Impressionism, Symbolism and Art Nouveau. The artistic shift from Impressionism to Expressionism is also evident in the work of Alexej von Jawlensky and Gabriele Münter, who experienced an artistically stimulating and productive period in Murnau in 1908 and found new means of expression.
