By 1900, Dachau had grown into a nationally renowned center for landscape painting. The Dachau artists' colony became widely known. Three artists in particular contributed to this: Adolf Hölzel, Ludwig Dill and Arthur Langhammer.
Discover these and other artists from the artists' colony and their motifs on this tour through the old town and along the Amper. At the painting steles, you take in the painters' perspective on their motifs.
Some of these paintings can be viewed in the original in the permanent exhibition at the Dachau Picture Gallery.
Starting pointt: Dachau town hall terrace
Path lengthapprox. 5.7 km
Texture: Path includes stairs, partly alternative paths without stairs see map
Durationapprox. 2 hours.
Height difference: 20 m
Katrin Kühne reports in the „Sonntagsspaziergang“ of the cultural travel magazine Deutschlandfunk.
„View from Karlsberg Dachau towards the mountains“, Eduard Schleich the Elder. around 1861
Oil on mahogany, 49.2 x 117.6 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections / Neue Pinakothek Munich
Eduard Schleich the Elder and his painter friends discovered the mossy landscape around Dachau as early as the middle of the 19th century. His paintings were mostly created in a rectangular, narrow format, also known as „towel format“. People were not important in the landscape paintings, but these small figures can be found again and again in the paintings. It is said that his painter friend Carl Spitzweg painted them into the landscape for him.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Wooded area near Dachau“, Lovis Corinth
Oil on canvas, 65.5 x 87.5 cm
City of Dachau/Dachau Picture Gallery
Lovis Corinth came to Dachau through his painter friends, especially Arthur Langhammer. He was taken with „Hipp“, Langhammer's dog. Corinth not only painted him, but also described him. ‚“Hipp trotted along like a bear, his facial expressions were much more expressive than his companions“ faces, ears and tails put together. He obeyed his master at his word and turned his head to the right or left on command as soon as he had to model."
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„The white moss“, Ludwig Dill 1900
Oil on canvas, 70 x 87 cm
Dr. Ulrich and Gertrude Lechner Foundation/Dachau Picture Gallery
Architecture professor Adolf Gnauth looked through Dill's drawing portfolio one day and said: „What do you want with architecture, you absolutely have to become a painter“.
Dill had already studied engineering without a degree, was a soldier and now wanted to study architecture. He became a painter! During a walk with Adolf Hölzel in Dachau, a woman suddenly stepped out of her little house on the Amper and said: „Oh, Professor, why don't you buy my house? After viewing the property with its large garden directly on the Amper, Dill bought it and became a Dachau resident. He also kept it when he was called to the academy in Karlsruhe.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Horses in the glut“ Max Feldbaueraround 1919
Oil on wood, 59.5 x 61.4 cm
Hugo Troendle Foundation/Dachau Picture Gallery
„Nude and steed are enough for me...“ was his motto. As a painter and teacher at the Ladies„ Academy in Munich, he was able to build a house “for himself, his wife, his riding horse, his dog and the cats" as early as 1908. Feldbauer was tall and room-filling and emphasized his appearance with striking clothing and the wearing of a bowler hat.
He labeled his pictures on the back with the name of the models or horse names, unfortunately only in pencil, which faded over the decades.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
Amper bridge near Mitterndorf, Otto Strützel around 1923
Oil on canvas, 80 x 111.5 cm
Savings Bank Dachau/Painting Gallery Dachau
Otto Strützel liked to come to the small village of Etzenhausen in the summer months and was closely associated with it until his death in 1930. The fact that Strützel visited many painters„ colonies can be seen in some of his paintings. In the painting “Amperbrücke bei Mitterndorf„, for example, he has dressed the two farmers in the clothes of farmers from northern Germany. Presumably these were in his sketchbook. This was proof that he had worked as a “colony hopper" in various regions.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
Peat hut,Bernhard Buttersack, 1899
Oil on canvas on cardboard, 56 x 43 cm
Dachau Museum Association/Dachau Picture Gallery
Bernhard Buttersack became acquainted with Haimhausen during his stay in Dachau. He sought peace and quiet and acquired a large plot of land on the outskirts of Ottershausen, had a house with a painter's studio built and became a landscape gardener out of hobby. He arranged the many trees he planted in groups: conifers here, birches there and foreign species elsewhere. The result was a park with a special character. He opened a painting school in his studio and the painting village of Haimhausen/Ottershausen was born. The locals welcomed the painting students and offered guest rooms in their homes. This often led to a friendship between locals and guests that lasted for years and decades.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
Girl with a bundle of brushwood, Arthur Langhammer
Oil on canvas, 72 x 100 cm
Savings Bank Dachau/Painting Gallery Dachau
Arthur Langhammer came to Dachau in 1900 and found close friends in Adolf Hölzel and Ludwig Dill. The art critic Arthur Roeßler described the work of the three as „New Dachau“. Dill was happy to have a partner for his walks in the moss. When Langhammer told him that he was not a pure landscape painter, he advised his friend: "Put your subjects by the water, then you can paint both the landscape and the reflection in the water.
His dog Hipp often sat patiently next to the easel. His fur was always used to clean the painter's brushes, so he was soon called the „colorful dog of Dachau“.
Langhammer died at the age of 47.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
Evening at the lock (Amper weir), Paul Thiem around 1890
Oil on canvas, 37.7 x 47.7 cm
City of Dachau/Dachau Picture Gallery
Paul Thiem often visited Dachau as an artists' colony, but settled in Starnberg as early as 1896.
In addition to his artistic work as a painter, he was also active as a graphic artist, writer and book illustrator. He wrote dramas and the humorous novel „The Prince and his Uncle“.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Amperbad“ August Kallert, around 1920/30
Oil on wood, 74 x 57.5 cm
Private property
August Kallert was a good speaker, reader and amateur actor and entertained small social gatherings with his guitar playing. He was a founding member of the Ludwig Thoma community and co-organizer of the artists„ festivals, which were known far beyond the borders of Dachau. “It's like a cheerful Montmartre" wrote Simplizissimus.
His wife Lissa, a piano teacher, was a very capable woman and also kept the small household together with the income from her lessons.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Holzgartenstraße in Dachau“ Robert Franz Curry, around 1900
Oil on canvas, 62 x 75 cm
Dachau Galleries and Museums/Dachau Picture Gallery
Robert Franz Curry came from Boston, USA, and lived in Oberstdorf for many years. Curry was not deterred from painting his landscapes outdoors, even in sub-zero temperatures, and was soon dubbed the „snow painter“. In 1944, the family moved to an Art Nouveau villa in Riederau am Ammersee, which Robert Curry's father had built as a replica of the family home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„View of Dachau from the Unterer Markt“ Lilly Hildebrandt-Uhlmann
Oil on canvas, 62 x 50 cm
Private property
Lilly Hildebrand-Uhlmann came to Dachau around 1900 through fellow painter Ida Kerkovius to attend the painting school of Adolf Hölzel, whom she then followed to Stuttgart, where she became a master student. Because she was Jewish, she was banned from working under National Socialism. Her son Rainer Hildebrandt joined the resistance and later became the director of the „Haus am Checkpoint Charlie“ museum in Berlin.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„View of Dachau“, Karl Schröder-Tapiau around 1912
Oil on canvas, 38 x 50 cm
Dr. Ulrich and Gertrude Lechner Foundation/Dachau Picture Gallery
Karl Schröder included the addition „Tapiau“ in his artist's name. It was his attachment to his East Prussian homeland. Perhaps also a little pride, as Lovis Corinth, who was 12 years older and better known, also came from this community. We have Karl Schröder-Tapiau to thank for his pictures of old buildings that have long since disappeared. Throughout his life, he was the introverted East Prussian. As a founding member of the „Dachau Artists“ Group", he was involved from the very beginning, but more at the association meetings than at the artists' festivals.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Schleißheim Canal in winter“ Hans von Hayek, 1905
Oil on canvas, 80.3 x 101 cm
Dachau Museum Association/Dachau Picture Gallery
Hans von Hayek was a co-founder of the Dachau Museum Association and in this capacity played a key role in the establishment of the Dachau Picture Gallery. As early as 1906, Hans von Hayek had suggested that a fund for the establishment of a gallery should be created on the basis of donations or small advance payments. The response from the artists must have been extraordinary, because after a short time von Hayek was able to report that the creation of the gallery was assured. It can be assumed that most of the artists donated their paintings to the association.
Hans von Hayek's grave is in the Old Cemetery.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„In the beer garden at the old shooting range“ Adolf Hölzel, 1891
Oil on canvas, 40.4 x 50.7 cm
Dr. Ulrich and Gertrude Lechner Foundation/Dachau Picture Gallery
Adolf Hölzel came to Dachau with his family in 1888 and was one of the first artists to settle in the market town. When Hölzel lost his fortune, which had been invested in his parents' business, this gave him the impetus to set up his own painting school, the first and most important in Dachau. What was special was that Hölzel did not make any markings on the students' work, but only pointed out shortcomings by word or example.
Brewery owner Eduard Ziegler builds a prestigious house for Hölzel and his family on a site near the Amper.
However, Adolf Hölzel soon became director of the academy in Stuttgart and left Dachau in 1905.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Folk festival in Dachau“ Paula Wimmer, around 1930
Oil on canvas, 42 x 50 cm
City of Dachau/Dachau Picture Gallery
„If you want to be a painter, you have to give up everything else,“ was her attitude towards this profession. She first moved to Dachau for a few years in 1915 and later lived in a municipal artist's studio in Moosschwaige. She soon became known among the population as the „Cat Mother of Augustenfeld“. Although she herself lived in difficult circumstances, the cats of Augustenfeld always found her plate full. That's why her sketchbooks were full of cats.
Her colorful paintings radiate joie de vivre: „I paint with the colors of theater,“ which the viewer can also see in the painting.
Paula Wimmer's grave is in the Waldfriedhof cemetery.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Wieninger Straße in winter“ Giulio Beda, around 1908
Oil on canvas, 112 x 110 cm
Private property
Giulio Beda was not only recognizable by his tall stature, but also by his hat, which soon became his trademark. „Das Beda“, as he called himself - he never really learned German - very quickly took part in public life and was a passionate singer. However, he often said that he wanted to have his peace and quiet at work. When he felt disturbed by two women talking loudly while painting in the Hofgarten, he shouted to the passing magistrate: „Aren't there any paragraphs where you lock up stupid women?.
Beda did not paint portraits. „Beda painted himself and the result was a monkey,“ he explained to a visitor.
Beda died as a result of an unfortunate fall down a steep staircase in the house.
Giulio Beda's grave is in the forest cemetery.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Unterbräu with Augsburg Gate“ Karl Stuhlmüller, 1890
Oil on wood, 34 x 56.5 cm
City, district and Sparkasse Dachau/Gemäldegalerie Dachau
Throughout his life, museum experts and art experts hardly took any notice of Karl Stuhlmüller. He did not take part in the Munich exhibitions, preferring instead to move around the countryside in the summer without a fixed abode. He preferred the areas around Dachau, Aichach and Schrobenhausen and painted his cattle markets there. His paintings are rich in figures and tell stories from times gone by. They can be described as „historical documents“, even though he painted the church tower of St. Jakob upside down.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
„Karlsberg“ Jean Lehmann, 1929
Oil on canvas, 66 x 80.4 cm
City of Dachau/Dachau Picture Gallery
Although Jean Lehmann learned the hotel trade, he soon studied art at various schools and locations. He got to know Dachau from Munich. He financed his studies as a museum guide and in St. Moritz as a figure skating instructor for celebrities.
He signed his later works „JLLS - Jean Lehmann Luzern St. Moritz“ to avoid confusion with artists of the same name.
Text and research Ms. Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau
You can also visit the Etzenhausen artists' trail.
