Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - Art Collections on Theatre Square
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 most significant collections include Romanticism and, above all, the Expressionism of the Brücke artists, with a large collection of works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff - who was born in Chemnitz and grew up here with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Ernst Heckel. Outstanding works by these two artists can also be found in the art collections on Theaterplatz. The paintings also include numerous works by artists such as Caspar David Friedrich, Max Slevogt, Lovis Corinth, Helene Funke, Louise Seidler, Edvard Munch and Georg Baselitz.
The sculpture collection includes works by Edgar Degas, Aristide Maillol and Tony Cragg. The Graphic Art Collection has around 28,000 works on paper, including outstanding collections by Lyonel Feininger, Honoré Daumier, Käthe Kollwitz and Wolfgang Mattheuer. The decorative arts and textile collections are also worthy of special mention. The specialised art history library is open to the public and contains more than 90,000 items.
Highlights 2025/2026
Special exhibitions
- "Galerie Oben and Clara Mosch - artistic free spaces in Karl-Marx-Stadt"
20 February 2025 until 15 February 2026 - "Beyond geometry. Frei Otto x Kengo Kuma"
22 March 2024 until 29 June 2025 - "Schneeberg weave"
3 April until 29 June 2025 - "Edvard Munch - Fear"
10 August to 2 November 2025 - "Carlfriedrich Claus - On the edge of now on the edge of here"
27 November 2025 to 1 March 2026 - "Frank Maibier"
11 December 2025 to 12 April 2026