The Bauhaus comes from Weimar

Permanent Exhibition at the Bauhaus-Museum Weimar

The Bauhaus Museum Weimar with its exhibition of more than 300 objects offers insights into the development of the State Bauhaus in the place in which it was founded, namely in Weimar. The Bauhaus, opened in April 1919 in Weimar, located in Dessau beginning in 1925 and closed down by the National Socialists in Berlin in 1933, is Germany’s most influential and successful cultural export item of the 20th century. The reputation of this interdisciplinary international school of art, architecture, design and stage enjoys worldwide timeliness today, more than 70 years after its closure.

The pedagogical, artistic and design ideas of the Bauhaus continue to emanate into the entire world. Many of these innovative ideas were conceived in Weimar. The presentation at the Bauhaus Museum Weimar shows works of Walter Gropius, the founding director of the Bauhaus, as well as those of famous Bauhaus masters such as Lyonel Feininger, Gerhard Marcks, Johannes Itten or Paul Klee. In addition, many student works are presented, among which are those by Marcel Breuer or Alma Siedhoff-Buscher, as excellent examples of the practice-oriented training at the Bauhaus. Many of the objects shown at the Bauhaus Museum uniquely illustrate the multifarious, creative and lively nature of the school’s work in Weimar. Beginning with the Manifesto and Programme of the Bauhaus, the Bauhaus masters developed an innovative teaching programme with the preliminary course given by Itten, the studies in form and colour with Klee and Kandinsky and the training in various workshops.

The principle of workshops, the practically oriented training of the approximately 150 students in craftsmanship and art, was just as characteristic of the Bauhaus as the teamwork between teachers and students. The classics of design still being produced today, such as Josef Hartwig’s Bauhaus chess game, Jucker and Wagenfeld’s table lamp or Marianne Brandt’s works in metal at the Bauhaus Museum Weimar, document the transition from unique pieces produced by craftsmen, to prototypes for industry according to Gropius’ motto »Art and Technology — a New Unity« beginning in 1922.