With “Kunst Hand Werk Brücke,” the Krefeld Art Museums are shining a spotlight on a previously overlooked aspect of the Brücke group: their applied arts. From October 4, 2026, to March 7, 2027, the exhibition at Haus Lange broadens the perspective on Expressionism beyond the famous paintings. Furniture, everyday objects, frames, stationery, stained glass, jewelry, and designs for home textiles demonstrate how consistently Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel, and other Brücke artists integrated art and everyday life. Craft, design, and applied art evolved into experimental fields of a modern lifestyle reform—inspired by folk craft traditions and non-European art.
The exhibition venue also helps tell this story: Haus Lange, the Krefeld villa designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was already a hub of Expressionist art in the 1920s. It is closely associated with the collector and builder Hermann Lange. At the same time, the exhibition ties in with the early reception of the Brücke movement in the Lower Rhine region. As early as 1908, the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum presented works by the artist group.
“Kunst Hand Werk Brücke” is produced in cooperation with the Brücke Museum Berlin and is part of the HLHE Dialog series, in which the Krefeld Art Museums have been bringing together historical, modern, and contemporary perspectives from art, design, and architecture since 2017.
Services
- Admission to the exhibition “Kunst Hand Werk Brücke” at Haus Lange
- Admission to additional exhibitions in the Bauhaus villas Haus Lange and Haus Esters
- Admission to the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, including permanent and special exhibitions (when purchasing the combined ticket for all three venues of the Krefeld Art Museums)
