Bauhaus anniversary

Visit Dessau / Bauhaus anniversary

100 years of Bauhaus in Dessau

The city of Dessau-Roßlau and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation are jointly celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus in Dessau. Various event formats in 2025 and 2026 will be dedicated to the history of the Bauhaus in the city itself as well as the material culture of modernism and its relevance for the present day. Exhibitions, artistic interventions, conferences and festive events will shed light on the Bauhaus tradition from new perspectives. The celebrations will extend across the former and new places where the Bauhaus members worked – from the historic workshop wing to the Bauhaus Museum and numerous other locations in the city – a multi-layered dialogue between the past, present and future.

04. & 05. September 2026

Bauhaus festival

This year’s Bauhaus Festival is dedicated to the theme of the circus.
In the 1920s, the circus was a popular art form in Europe. The Bauhaus artists were fascinated by the experimental, playful and fantastical aspects of the circus. It was celebrated in stage productions and at festivals. The focus was very much on shared experiences and the sense of participation both within and outside traditional performance spaces. The 2026 Bauhaus Festival draws inspiration from the Bauhaus artists’ historical enthusiasm for the circus. We invite you to enjoy contemporary circus projects, material-based performances, interactive games and dance.

Anniversary Exhibitions

On 28 March 2026, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation opened its major anniversary exhibitions, “To the Essence: Bauhaus Dessau 100”. The focus is on the materials that define the Bauhaus – from glass, concrete and metal to innovative building materials such as algae, rubble and CO₂.

The two main exhibitions in the Bauhaus building and the former Zeeck department store shed light on both the history and the future of building. The programme is complemented by open-air presentations, installations and performances in the city’s public spaces.

An anniversary that opens up new perspectives on the Bauhaus – right in the heart of Dessau.

Invisible Bauhaus – the digital tours

The ‘Invisible Bauhaus Dessau’ project is launching new digital guided tours as part of the Triennial of Modernism.

A video walk takes visitors to six locations in Dessau city centre where the Bauhaus established itself in 1925 and simultaneously encountered resistance. Visitors can use QR codes to access videos and immerse themselves in Bauhaus history. In addition, the audio walk ‘In the Footsteps of Paul Klee’ offers a tour of the Georgium Landscape Park. It shows how Klee’s walks in nature influenced his art and actively involves participants through interactive sequences.

Guided tours ¬

In the footsteps of Paul Klee

The Bauhaus master went for a walk almost every day. He particularly
enjoyed walking in the Georgengarten. For him, going for a walk meant
observing the air, the weather, and the play of colours in the parks, trees, meadows,
lakes and buildings, and savouring their atmosphere,
which he then captured in his paintings. You too can
follow in Paul Klee’s footsteps on this guided walk.

Every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month / 11.00 am
Meeting point: Kandinsky/Klee Master House
Book tickets online

Both tours are also available as video and audio walks.
Access them here.

Freiraum Image Bank Exhibition ¬

Famous figures from the Bauhaus era in Dessau

To mark the ‘Bauhaus Dessau 100’ anniversary, the open-air exhibition
on the picture benches in Dessau city centre is being revamped. Under the title ‘Personalities of the Bauhaus era in Dessau’, the focus is, for the first time, on the people who shaped the Bauhaus through their biographies, ideas and
relationships with one another.

The exhibition features 28 information panels at 14 locations along a route of around 3.5 kilometres, showcasing key figures of the Bauhaus movement who were active in Dessau as masters, students, designers or patrons.

Special exhibition ¬

The Bauhaus is coming to town

Dessau in the 1920s

The exhibition “Dessau 1925” explores the fascinating period when the ideas of the Bauhaus met the city of Dessau and brought about lasting changes to its streetscape. It focuses on the social contrasts between the tradition-conscious middle classes and the industrial working class, as well as the diverse social landscape of the time.

The exhibition particularly impressively illustrates the contrast between the city’s classical building styles and the newly emerging modern Bauhaus architecture. Visitors gain a unique insight into Dessau’s development during the 1920s and experience how innovative architecture and social change intersected.

The exhibition complements the permanent exhibition “A Place for Sensible People” and offers an in-depth look at the history of Dessau-Roßlau.

14 June – 29 November 2026

Exhibitions ¬ Kunsthalle Dessau

Lars Petersohn. Malerei

Petersohn’s works are characterised by a free, spontaneous style of painting, intense colours and surprising details. Despite the lively compositions, the subject matter remains clearly recognisable.

Born in Leipzig in 1964, the artist studied painting and graphic design at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle. He frequently turns his hand to classical motifs such as still lifes and landscapes, which draw the eye to seemingly trivial details and invite the viewer to explore.

15 May – 13 June 2026

Maria Volokhova, Reiner Maria Matysik und Lev Khesin

Drawing on works by Maria Volokhova, Reiner Maria Matysik and Lev Khesin, the exhibition, subtitled Porcelain I Flesh I Silicone, explores the possibilities of a contemporary approach to material, content and aesthetics.

10 July – 22 August 2026

A glimpse into private collections

The exhibition at the Anhaltischer Kunstverein Dessau explores which Bauhaus works have survived to this day in private collections. The focus is on works by Bauhaus masters and students created after the Bauhaus era, as well as designs that found their way into industrial production – such as Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s glass designs.

Furthermore, the exhibition explores the fields of typography, advertising and design, showcasing the diversity of the Bauhaus’s work. Supported by the Förderverein Meisterhäuser Dessau, the exhibition brings together loans from Dessau-Roßlau and from private collections across Germany.

2 October – 31 October 2026

Exhibitions ¬

Fritz Winter. Bauhaus painter

In collaboration with the Fritz Winter House in Ahlen, the Kunsthalle Dessau is exhibiting works by Fritz Winter (1905–1976), a leading figure in German abstract painting. The artist studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau under Josef Albers and Wassily Kandinsky, and worked in the studios of Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer. As early as 1929, he took part in the exhibition ‘Young Bauhaus Painters’.

Following his time as a prisoner of war and a ban on painting, he created his famous ‘Driving Forces of the Earth’ in Dießen – key works of post-war German art. Winter’s works explore the forces of nature between destruction and creation.

19 June – 9 August 2026 ¬ Orangery in Georgium Park

Swen Bernitz: Bauhaus

At the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie, architectural photographer Swen Bernitz is presenting the exhibition “I Prefer to Call My Cubism Prisma-ism”. In his photo series, he explores the Bauhaus buildings in Dessau and the Federal School of the General German Trade Union Federation in Bernau.

Bernitz offers a contemporary reinterpretation of the iconic Bauhaus architecture, drawing inspiration from artists such as Marianne Brandt, Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky and László Moholy-Nagy. The result is a modern, creative perspective on the architectural legacy of the Bauhaus.

19 June – 9 August 2026 ¬ Georgium Palace

Ludwig Grote and the Dessau Bauhaus

The State Conservator, Ludwig Grote, was one of the driving forces
behind the Bauhaus in Dessau. He played an active role in bringing the Bauhaus to Dessau. As art advisor to the Lord Mayor, Fritz Hesse, he also became the first director of the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie in 1927. His close relationship with the Bauhaus led him to acquire a significant
collection of paintings and prints by the Bauhaus masters and individual students for the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie.

29 August – 30 November 2026 ¬ Georgium Palace

Exhibition ¬ Oranienbaum Palace

Bauhaus and the Garden Kingdom in dialogue

Hinnerk Scheper, a leading colour designer of the Bauhaus, was commissioned by Ludwig Grote to develop a colour scheme for the Palais Reina and Oranienbaum Palace. At Oranienbaum Palace in particular, the wall finishes, restored in 2025, are now visible once again, bringing to life an important chapter in the history of the Bauhaus.

The collaboration between the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau and the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation is bringing the connection between the Bauhaus and the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz into sharper focus.

In the summer of 2026, Oranienbaum Palace will host an exhibition on the former ‘Filialgalerie’. This will be complemented by a design competition organised by Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. The exhibition furniture created for this competition will be presented to the public for the first time.

Reading series ¬

The world comes to the Bauhaus

The lecture series launched in January 2025 to mark the ‘100 Years of the Bauhaus in Dessau’ anniversary will continue in a new format in 2026. In the second anniversary year, the perspective is reversed: following “The Bauhaus Comes to the City” with its chronological look at “Dessau 1925”, the focus
is shifted this time to “The World Comes to the Bauhaus”. The focus will be on prominent figures associated with the Bauhaus, including architects such as Peter Behrens, painters such as Oskar Kokoschka, writers such as Gerhart Hauptmann, composers such as Béla Bartók, and scientists
such as Albert Einstein. They were all involved in the circle of friends or gave lectures on site. It is a panorama of the intellectual world of the time, which will be reflected in fascinating portraits.

21 April 2026 – Georgium Palace
26 May 2026 – Dessau-Roßlau City Archives
28 July 2026 – Dessau-Roßlau City Archives
25 August 2026 – Dessau-Roßlau City Library
27 October 2026 – St. Georg Community Centre
24 November 2026 – Dessau Lodge House

Dessau 1926

The “Dessau 1925” reading series will also continue in 2026
and, in its usual style, will shed light on current events in “Dessau 1926”. Starting in March, the readings at the end of each quarter will once again present, in chronological order, a colourful and wide-ranging selection of important and interesting events in “Dessau 1926”.

30 June 2026 – Bauhaus Museum Dessau
29 September 2026 – Bauhaus Museum Dessau
15 December 2026 – Bauhaus Museum Dessau

The Bauhaus Anniversary Beer

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus in Dessau in 2024, the idea was born to develop a beer that reflects the connection between tradition and modernity. Hobby brewer Dr Fabian Jäger-Gildemeister (Artemis Brewing Dessau) and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation teamed up with the Zum Alten Dessauer brewery to create Bauhausbier – an elegant, hoppy lager with a complex malty body.

The ingredients are deliberately linked to the history of the Bauhaus:
Historic Isaria1924® malt, Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops and Bavarian yeast are reminiscent of the lager beers of the 1920s, which Bauhaus artists such as Kandinsky and Klee also drank in Dessau pubs.
Modern hop varieties such as Citra (USA) and Wakatu (New Zealand) represent the global influence of the Bauhaus after 1932.
With Barke® malt (1996, year of UNESCO recognition) as well as regional Pilsner malt and the climate-resistant Amira hop, the beer bridges the gap between the present and the future.

Bauhaus beer thus combines regional roots with international influence, uniting traditional craft brewing, innovation and the values of the Bauhaus in a modern hoppy lager.