Käthe Schmidt as Gänseliesel at the costume festival organised by the School of Women Artists in Munich, 1889,
Kollwitz Estate, Käthe Kollwitz Museum, Cologne

Happy birthday, Käthe!

To mark Käthe Kollwitz’s birthday, we are commemorating one of the most significant female artists of the 20th century – and, at the same time, her roots in Königsberg.

As a small token to mark her birthday, the first 100 visitors tomorrow will receive, along with their admission ticket, a piece of original Königs Marzipan from the Charlottenburg-based manufacturer Wald Königsberger Marzipan – a sweet memento of the city where Käthe Kollwitz’s life began.

On 8 July 1867, Käthe Kollwitz was born as Käthe Schmidt in Königsberg. The East Prussian city was far more than just the place of her childhood: it was here that her personality, her sense of social responsibility and her artistic view of the world were shaped. She grew up in a liberal, cosmopolitan family home where education, art and social engagement were highly valued. Her talent for drawing was recognised and nurtured from an early age – at a time when access to academic art education was still largely denied to women. The intellectual atmosphere of Königsberg at that time and of her family home laid the foundations for a body of work that continues to move people around the world to this day.

In her memoirs, her childhood friend Helene Bloch described just how full of life, spirited and curious the young Käthe was:

“I have a very lovely and vivid memory from her teenage years at her parents’ house, where I was often invited to so-called ‘balls’. We would dance the whole evening through. She danced with passion and was constantly falling in love all over again. Once we spent an entire evening looking at illustrations in the ‘Kladderadsch’, and it was wonderful for me to see her laughing so heartily at Oberländer’s humorous drawings. – The relationship between the children and their parents was wonderful. The children had complete freedom; they were allowed to spend their pocket money – which was also intended for their clothes – manage their money as they wished – and yet respect and obedience towards their parents were the highest law. I was always impressed by how, in the family, everything intellectual took precedence and how money was always made available for theatre and literature, whatever the circumstances.”

And Helene Bloch goes on to report:

“At a later ball, to the amazement and delight of everyone present, she appeared as a ‘Bacchante’, singing and dancing with incredible passion, a wreath in her hair.”

These recollections give a profound insight into the Schmidt household. It was an environment that had a lasting influence on Käthe Kollwitz and laid the foundations for her later work.

“Klaus Hack”
15 November 2026 to 10 January 2027
Opening: Saturday, 14 November 2026, 6 pm

Contrary to the prevailing trend, the sculptor Klaus Hack (born 1966) opted early on for the traditional medium of wood, which offers the ideal conditions for his imaginative art, which straddles the line between surreal creatures and structural forms. In addition to free-standing sculptures, Klaus Hack also creates reliefs and woodcuts, and is an imaginative draughtsman.

After studying under Wilhelm Uhlig in Nuremberg and Rolf Szymanski and Lothar Fischer in Berlin, Hack completed his training as a master student in 1995. He has been working as a freelance artist ever since. Born in Franconia, he now lives in Brandenburg.

“Ida Gerhardi – And Everything Danced”
30 August to 1 November 2026
Opening: Saturday, 29 August 2026, 5 pm

With the special exhibition “Ida Gerhardi – And Everything Danced”, Berlin’s Käthe Kollwitz Museum is shining a spotlight on an extraordinary modernist artist whose significance has long been underestimated. Around 40 paintings and drawings from Gerhardi’s years in Paris around 1905 reveal a painter who moved with confidence through the vibrant metropolis and was one of the first female artists to take Parisian nightlife and the world of dance as her subject.

Having lived in Paris since 1891, Ida Gerhardi (1862–1927) established herself as a portraitist and a well-connected figure on the international art scene. Her expressive dance and café scenes, as well as her haunting self-portraits, bear witness to an independent artistic vision. The fact that she strolled through Paris alone and visited dance halls was highly unusual for a woman around 1900 – and also made her a pioneer in her choice of subjects.

The friendship between Ida Gerhardi and Käthe Kollwitz is also explored. During her two-month stay in Paris in 1904, Kollwitz, accompanied by the art dealer Wilhelm Uhde (1874–1947), joined Gerhardi on her wanderings through the city’s pubs and dance halls. This encounter gave rise to a close friendship that endured for years, finding expression in their shared interest in self-portraiture.

Following several postponements due to the pandemic, the long-planned exhibition is now going ahead. It is also the first presentation of Ida Gerhardi’s work in Berlin for 25 years. An accompanying booklet will be published.

Dates, can also be booked individually:

4 July 2026, 3.00–4.30 p.m.
1 August 2026, 3.00–4.30 p.m.
5 September 2026, 3.00–4.30 p.m.

Limited number of participants:
Prior registration required at: bildung@kaethe-kollwitz.de

Costs: Participation: 10,- Euro plus reduced admission

Guidance: Katja Schöppe Carstensen, Art historian and Cultural geragogue

Monday till Thuesday, August 17 – 20, 2026 | from 10 AM – 3 PM

Age: 8 – 12 Years

Costs: 83 euros

max. 10 participants

Material: Please bring a lunch box and drink. Depending on the weather, bring sun cream or a rain jacket.

Registration directly via Jugend im Museum

Upcoming date:

• 2 August 2026

12 am – 3 pm

Drop-in offer
from 8 to 99 years
Registration possible on location from 11 am

Entrance fee on KollwitzSunday: 4 €
Participation included in the entrance fee

The museum invites you to a creative printing workshop!

Even adults are allowed here!

Upcoming dates: 

2 August The print workshop is taking a break; 2 guided tours (12 noon and 3 pm)

6 September Silhouettes: Cut & Print! Upcycling materials from exhibition stand construction

4 October Our message! Designing posters using screen printing

1 November Collagraphy. Building up rather than taking away in relief printing

6 December Printed and celebrated! Designing cards using mixed media

KollwitzSunday

On the first Sunday of every month, the museum opens its doors at a special price of 4 euros. The entrance fee also includes participation in the print workshop.

Children and young people under the age of 18 as well as holders of an authorisation card (formerly berlinpass), members of the Berlin City Guide Association, representatives of the press and members of ICOM continue to enjoy free admission on KollwitzSunday.

“RAINER WÖLZL – CONSTELLATIONS”
6 June to 9 August 2026
Opening: Friday, 5 June 2026, 7 pm

The Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Berlin is presenting “Constellations,” a comprehensive solo exhibition by Austrian artist Rainer Wölzl. The exhibition offers a compelling insight into the multifaceted work of an artist who has been grappling with the cultural, social, and political upheavals of our time for decades.

Rainer Wölzl, born in Vienna in 1954, works primarily with charcoal drawing today. His mostly large-format works are based on art-historical and media-based visual sources. He takes up motifs with contemporary historical and current sociopolitical relevance and, through montage, transforms them into complex visual constellations in which past and present converge.

The exhibition brings together works from a long-term project developed under the broader concept of a “Museum of Shadows.” The notion of the shadow functions here as both a poetic and political space for reflection—as a trace of the past, a surface for projection, and a component of both individual and collective memory.

At the heart of Wölzl’s work lies a continuous reflection on power structures, oppression, and their various manifestations in different social contexts. His artistic practice is conceived as a strategy of appropriation and transformation: visual material is not merely cited, but recomposed, shifted, and transferred into an open space of meaning.

Characteristic of Wölzl’s works is their multi-part nature as well as a grid-like structure that creates distance while simultaneously allowing for precise socio-political reflection. In deliberate contrast to the visual overload of digital imagery, the works stand as a testament against historical amnesia and for the enduring power of the drawn image.

The exhibition is the artist’s second museum presentation in Berlin, following his 2002 showing at the Georg Kolbe Museum, where he presented the extensive series “Aesthetics of Resistance” on Peter Weiss.

Image credit: Exhibition visualisation © Rainer Wölzl

Educational programmes for the special exhibition

FOR ADULTS
Slow Art tour
Thursday, 2 July 2026, 5 p.m.
Registration required.

Upcoming date:

• 2 August

Admission € 4
Participation in the programmes included in the admission price.

Kollwitz Sunday – more than just a visit to the museum!

Every first Sunday of the month, the Käthe Kollwitz Museum invites you to a special experience: explore the collection for a special price of just 4 euros, join an exciting guided tour and immerse yourself in the fascinating world of printmaking!
In our open print workshop, you can try out various artistic printing techniques – no prior experience required. During our guided tour, you’ll also learn fascinating insights into the life and work of Käthe Kollwitz.
Join us – be inspired and get creative yourself!

The programmes:

Kollwitz Sunday was initiated to maintain the popular format of the open print workshop even after the free Museum Sunday was cancelled. The positive response from many interested museum visitors has reinforced our decision.

We hope that the reduced admission price of 4 euros will continue to facilitate low-threshold access to our museum for everyone. Children and young people under the age of 18, as well as holders of a valid pass (formerly the BerlinPass), members of the Association of Berlin City Guides, members of the press and members of ICOM will continue to enjoy free admission on Kollwitz Sunday.

School project day

Free of charge

For school grades 7-13

Dates on request | Time: 10.00–13.00 | 180 minutes

Location: Public space around Kollwitzplatz / Museum Pankow (Prenzlauer Allee 227–228, B-10405)

Meeting point: Kollwitz monument at Kollwitzplatz, Prenzlauer Berg

Concept: Katharina Grantner

Course leaders: Katharina Grantner and Juan Camilo Alfonso

Registration: via the Käthe Kollwitz Museum by email to bildung@kaethe-kollwitz.de

In cooperation with the Museum Pankow.

Next dates in 2026:

• 2 August (12 noon and 3 pm)
• 6 September
• 4 October
• 1 November
• 6 December

Public guided tour as part of Kollwitz Sunday

Public guided tour as part of Kollwitz Sunday | 3 pm
in German language
approx. 60 minutes
Participation included in the special admission price for Kollwitz Sunday.
Number of participants minimum three persons, maximum 20 persons

Meeting point in the foyer, no pre-booking necessary.