Chemnitz has a new artists’ museum. After many years of initiatives and preliminary planning, the city of Chemnitz decided in February 2023 to renovate Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s former parents’ house as a listed building. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (Art Collections) were entrusted with the conceptual setup of the house and opened it as their sixth museum in April 2025. Together with the neighboring residential mill, where Karl Schmidt-Rottluff spent his childhood, the ensemble will become another hotspot of Expressionism in Chemnitz. Both buildings are located at Limbacher Straße 380/382 in Rottluff (Chemnitz). As a »place of departure«, the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House is one of the intervention areas of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025.
The new Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House works to museum standards and focuses primarily on original works of art, arts and crafts, documents and biographical focuses relating to Chemnitz for its first presentation. Particularly outstanding is the collection of Dr. Victor and Hedda Peters – a permanent loan from the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung together with the Sparkasse Chemnitz. Three major thematic blocks frame the presentation: the work and biography of the artist, the history of Expressionism in Chemnitz and the history of the place during the artist’s lifetime. The rooms are each dedicated to different sub-themes, including life in Rottluff, school days and artistic beginnings, the Brücke period, the presentation of wooden and jewelry objects, and life in Chemnitz during the war. Numerous objects, drawings and documents are being exhibited for the first time; some have never been published before. The house sets individual accents with its colorful design of the hallway, the old stairs, reconstructed doors and floorboards, historic windows and many details on the exterior façade. The renovation was extensive. The exterior has been carefully designed to be barrier-free. The garden connects both buildings of the ensemble and invites visitors to linger and hold small events, especially in warm weather. The former country house of the artists’ parents is an example of the Reform or Heimat style. Early 20th century Rottluff was a rural place and not yet a district of Chemnitz, even though intensive industrialization was increasingly seeping into the landscape profiles. There are other important excursion destinations nearby, including Rabenstein Castle (Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz), the rock domes, zoo and water reservoir. The historically prominent location is one of the intervention areas of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025. The ensemble aims to become a lively meeting place for art lovers and local residents. The Förderverein Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Chemnitz e. V. runs the mill, where Schmidt-Rottluff grew up.
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