Karl Schmidt-Rottluff in the Modernist Movement
The exhibition explores the life and work of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff within the context of modernism. From early works to the masterpieces of his career, the exhibition presents works and permanent loans from the extensive collection of the Chemnitz Art Collections. Of particular significance is the painting You and I by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, which the museum received in 2025 as a donation from the Würzburg entrepreneur Hermann Gerlinger. Also on display is the wooden sculpture Standing Woman (1920) by Erich Heckel, which was acquired for the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz in 2023. During a visit to his mother in 1926, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painted the vibrant city of Chemnitz. In the exhibition, his depictions of factories meet the deserted landscapes of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The tranquillity of nature inspires Schmidt-Rottluff to create landscape paintings that become an expression of deep emotion.
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff became a founding member of the Brücke art group in 1905 and is regarded as one of the most significant German artists of the 20th century. Born and raised in Rottluff, visitors can now view the cultural monument Wohnmühle (run by the Förderverein Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Chemnitz e. V.) and the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House of Art Collections Chemnitz there. In Chemnitz, the artist attended grammar school and met Erich Heckel. Like his fellow Chemnitz native Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, he later began studying architecture in Dresden. Together with the other founding members, Schmidt-Rottluff sought new forms of artistic expression with the aim of building a bridge to modern art. The painter and graphic artist, who lived in Berlin from 1911 onwards with few interruptions, regularly spent the summer months on the North Sea or Baltic Sea coasts.
The exhibition is complemented by works from the collection of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz by Peter August Böckstiegel, Kees van Dongen, Erich Heckel, Helene Funke, Ferdinand Hodler, Ida Kerkovius, Hanna Klose-Greger, Oskar Kokoschka, Paula Lauenstein, August Macke, Martha Schrag and others. In this way, works of Impressionism meet those of Expressionism within the network of Modernism.
