The Wedding Tower, the newly renovated Exhibition Hall and the Russian Chapel on the Mathildenhoehe in Darmstadt, Germany, glow in an autumn sunset. The Wedding Tower and Exhibition Hall were built in 1908, the Russian Chapel in 1899. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Four-three-two-one, finished. Finally.
After being closed for 12 years for renovation, the Exhibition Hall on Darmstadt’s Mathildenhoehe is open again for art enthusiasts.
The first exhibit being held here since 2012 is appropriately named “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt,” a show that traces the past 200 years of art in the city.
The Exhibition Hall is part of a series of buildings that the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, or Kuenstlerkolonie, designed and constructed in the early 20th century.
The planning began in 1899, when Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse invited seven Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) artists to work and live in Darmstadt. They built a colony of houses and studios on the Mathildenhoehe, a hill overlooking the city, and created a body of work that, when exhibited in 1901, made the city the center of the German Art Nouveau movement. More exhibits were held in 1904, 1908 and 1914.
Visitors look at works of art on display at the “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt” exhibit, including a portrait of author Hans Schiebelhuth by Carl Guntschmann and the bust “Abandonment,” by Adam Antes. The exhibit at Darmstadt, Germany’s Exhibition Hall on the Mathildenhoehe, is the first since 2012, following the hall’s extensive renovation. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The most well-known artist on display at the “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt” exhibit at the newly renovated Exhibition Hall on the Mathildenhoehe is probably Max Pechstein, with this painting of his first wife, “Blue Boa (Lotte Pechstein).” While Pechstein did not work in Darmstadt, local publisher Alexander Koch collected and displayed his works. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The Exhibition Hall was built for the 1908 edition. It’s among the city’s top tourist attractions, along with the Wedding Tower – Darmstadt’s most famous landmark – and the Russian Chapel, built 1899 by Czar Nicholas II for his wife, Alexandra of Darmstadt.
The show at the Mathildenhoehe complex, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site while being renovated, is an interesting hodgepodge of styles and mediums.
Instead of going chronologically, the curators mostly divided the 400-plus works in the exhibit geographically.
Art on display at the “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt” exhibit in Darmstadt, Germany, includes the sculptures “Three Semicircles, Wings Floating,” by Mathias Will, right, and Vera Roehm’s “Double Binomen.” The exhibit in the newly renovated Exhibition Hall on the city’s Mathildenhoehe runs until April 27, 2025. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Visitors check out the art on display at the “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt” exhibit in the largest room of the Mathildenhoehe’s Exhibition Hall. It is the first show in the hall in Darmstadt, Germany, after being closed 12 years for renovations. The work at right is a self-portrait by Darmstadt artist Ernst Vogel. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The outlines of neighborhood streets and their names are painted on the floor of each section. Information panels, in English and German, describe the artists, their studios and the galleries where their art was shown.
Many of the artists exhibited are hardly household names outside of the region.
The best known is Max Pechstein, though he didn’t work or live in Darmstadt. He is part of the exhibit because a local publisher, Alexander Koch, collected Pechstein’s works, among them “Blue Boa (Lotte Pechstein).”
Among the works in the exhibit that stand out are Vera Roehm’s sculpture “Double Binomen,” a self-portrait by artist Ernst Vogel and Eberhard Schlotter’s full-length portrait of the writer Gabriela Wohmann.
A a visitor to the exhibit “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt” looks at a group of haunting paintings depicting the bombing of Darmstadt during World War II by Karl Deppert, a survivor of the attack. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
A 1964 Stars and Stripes story on American Laura "Polly" Williams and her studio Ordo in Darmstadt is one of the items on display at the exhibit “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt,” at the Mathildenhoehe Exhibition Hall. Williams was a follower of the Fluxus art movement. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
One section is dedicated to art influenced by the 1944 bombing of the city. The standouts are Willi Hofferbert’s “Madonna of the Ruins” and a group of haunting paintings depicting the carnage by Karl Deppert, a survivor of the attack.
An American is also featured in the exhibition. In the mid-1960’s, Laura “Polly” Williams ran an art studio in the Darmstadt district of Arheiligen. She said in a 1964 Stars and Stripes article about her work that “this is all modern art on display. No trees or houses and things like that.”
Statues of Adam and Eve flank the entrance of the Museum Kuenstlerkolonie, or Artists' Colony Museum, on the Mathildenhoehe. It was once a studio for the artists' colony in the early 20th century. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
At the foot of Darmstadt’s Wedding Tower is the Platanenhain, or plane tree grove, with works by the sculptor Bernhard Hoetger, including this Art Nouveau fountain. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
It’s a lot to take in, but while you are there, the Mathildenhoehe itself is a piece of art not to be missed.
Eleven of the buildings designed by the original Art Nouveau artists are still standing. Their concept propagated the “complete artwork.” Not only were houses of special design, but so were the works of art and the furniture that filled them, all the way down to the flatware.
The Behrens House, right, designed by the painter and graphic artist Peter Behrens, and the Small Glueckert House designed by the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich were part of an architectural ensemble built on the Mathildenhoehe in Darmstadt, Germany, during the Art Nouveau movement. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The Olbrich House designed by architect Joseph Maria Olbrich was part of the exhibit "A Document of German Art" in 1901 on the Mathildenhoehe in Darmstadt, Germany. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Examples of this can be seen in the Artists’ Colony Museum, where the exquisite works of the colony, furniture, plates, silverware and jewelry are on display.
On the QT
Where: Olbrichweg 13. 64287 Darmstadt. It’s about a 30-minute drive from Wiesbaden and 1.5 hours from Kaiserslautern. The cheapest garage is under the Rewe supermarket and the Alice-Hospital on Dieburgerstrasse at 1.80 euro for the first hour, then 2 euros per hour, up to 15 euros for the day. If arriving at the city’s main train station, take the F bus to the Mathildenhoehe stop.
Hours: “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt” runs until April 27, 2025. The Exhibit Hall and the Museum Kuenstlerkolonie are open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. The Wedding Tower hours vary; see website hochzeitsturm-darmstadt.eu for details.
Cost: Admission to the “4-3-2-1 Darmstadt” exhibit is 10 euros for adults and 8 euros for children. The Artists’ Colony Museum is 5 euros for adults 18 and over; children get in free. A combination ticket for both sites is 12 euros for adults. Purchasing a Mathildenhoehe Card online also grants admission to the museum and Wedding Tower, the reduced price for the exhibit (8 euros) and a free bus pass in the city and surroundings for a day.
Food: Cafe Restaurant Mathildenhoehe, under the Exhibition Hall, serves breakfast, lunch, afternoon coffee and cake and Sunday brunch. Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
Information: Online: mathildenhoehe.de/en
