Art on the move: European Realities” inspires Chemnitz!

Art on the move: European Realities” inspires Chemnitz!

A nice place to explore European art history was the Gunzenhauser Museum in Chemnitz, where the remarkable exhibition “European Realities” took place until August 10, 2025. This show was dedicated to the realism movements of the 1920s and 1930s and attracted around 40,000 visitors. Curator Anja Richter spent the last five years collecting around 300 works from 20 European countries. The aim was to rewrite art history and put lesser-known artists in the spotlight. 80% of the exhibiting artists were new to many visitors, as [MDR](https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/sachsen/chemnitz/chemnitz-stollberg/european-realities- exhibition-kulturhauptstadt-tickets-kultur-news-102~amp.html) reports.

At a time of great social upheaval ushered in by the First World War, the works of art reflected not only the social realities, but also the new beginnings and joy of life that arose in the Weimar Republic. The exhibition showed both rare works and loans from European museums and was particularly dedicated to the topics of women's emancipation, changes in large cities as well as social housing and work in factories.

A look at the New Objectivity

With the “New Objectivity” an important movement of the 20th century was born that replaced Expressionism. The term was coined as early as 1925 by Franz Roh in his study “Magical Realism,” in which he described a return to order in art. The diversity of this movement is reflected in the works on display: from the satirical depictions of George Grosz to the haunting portraits of Otto Dix and the sensitive paintings of Jeanne Mammen, all of which dared to take a critical look at social conditions taz.

What is particularly interesting is that the exhibition not only mixed well-known works, but also presented unknown works from Latvia, Poland and Bulgaria as well as art by artists from Sweden, Italy and England. With this mixture, the “European Realities” exhibition wanted to offer an objective reflection of society and underline the international connections within the art scene taz.

Society and art in focus

The works on display also addressed the role of women in art and society. In the Weimar Republic, women were given the right to vote and access to art academies. Part of the exhibition was dedicated to portraits of women from the 1920s, which reflected the fragile social structures and the emancipation of women in a changing society. Sports and the emerging broadcast medium were also treated as new motifs in art, illustrating the cultural changes at this time.

With its critical and at the same time nostalgic look at social developments, “Neue Sachlichkeit” provides a remarkable testimony to the Weimar Republic. The current events as part of the Capital of Culture year in Chemnitz and the extensive compilation of this exhibition show how important it is to shed light on the lesser-known sides of art history and to hear the voices of the forgotten malen-lernen.