Karl Schmidt was born in Rottluff (near Chemnitz) in 1884. He was a founder-member of the Brücke group of artists and an important figure in the expressionist movement in Germany. After many years of initiatives and preliminary planning, the city of Chemnitz has decided to convert the former home of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s parents at Limbacher Straße 382 into an art centre. The house, along with the neighbouring mill, in which Karl Schmidt-Rottluff spent his childhood, will be converted into yet another hotspot of Expressionism in Chemnitz. As a »place of new beginnings«, the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff house will be one of the intervention spaces in the European Capital of Culture in Chemnitz in 2025.
The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz have been commissioned with the conception of the museum presentations and the future operation of the restored listed building. The main topics will be the biographies of the artist and of other Brücke members, and also the history of the place itself. Schmidt-Rottluff paid regular visits to his mother here until 1936. In the difficult years of the war, that is from 1943–1945, he relocated for a while to Rottluff, after his Berlin apartment had been destroyed in the bombing.
The Kunstsammlungen are developing their own form of presentation together with multimedia formats. Two collections donated specifically for the house will serve as the source for the exhibits on show there: the exquisite collection of handcrafted pieces of art by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, formerly owned by Dr Victor and Hedda Peters and to be shown now as a permanent loan from the foundation Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung; and a private collection of objects that previously belonged to the artist himself. Also on display in the exhibition rooms will be prints, oil sketches and works on temporary loan.
This museum expansion is aimed at creating a venue that is a lively meeting place not only for art enthusiasts and tourists, but also for Rottluff residents themselves. The centre will offer opportunities for encounters and participatory projects, as well as encourage volunteer activities, such as work in a café catering for day guests. Interventions featuring contemporary art are also on the agenda. And lastly, the house is intended to serve as a venue for hosting events in cooperation with the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Chemnitz e.V. association. Together with Sparkasse Chemnitz, the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung is supporting the reconstruction of the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House in Chemnitz with a further donation to the foundation in honour of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.
To commemorate the 140th anniversary of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s birth, a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the next construction phase will take place on site on December 2, 2024. On this day, the first guided tours of the parents’ house will be offered to the public, along with insights into the exhibition concept.
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