Museums & Art Galleries

By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Dachau, alongside Worpswede, was one of Europe's most important artists' villages.

Read more about the City of artists Dachau:

• Historic atists
• Dachau artists' path
• Houses of artists
• Artists' graves

The Dachau Painting Gallery has a representative permanent collection of typical landscape and genre paintings of the 19th and early 20th century. Dachau was the site of one of the most important - in terms of art history - German artist colonies at that time, which had a large impact on the development of modern art in the twentieth century.
Famous painters, such as Christian Morgenstern, Carl Spitzweg, Eduard Schleich the Elder or Adolf Hölzel, Ludwig Dill and Arthur Langhammer prized the moor landscape of Dachau as an attractive motif. Special exhibitions vary.
 

The District Museum, which was awarded the Bavarian Museum Award in 1993, reflects the cultural of the town of Dachau and the county surrounding it. 

On three floors numerous impressive exhibits illustrate settlement forms and town history. Guild and market law, crafts and trade, everday life and festive traditions are portrayed as well as religious folklore and much more.  

Frequent special exhibitions highlight various aspects of cultural history.

The New Gallery is exclusively dedicated to contemporary art. Re-opening in an idyllic courtyard at Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 20 on 20 May 2012, the gallery hosts at least five exhibitions a year. Young artists display their work in the areas of sculpture, installation, painting, photography, video, and experimental art.

Many of the artists who have presented their work here since 1992 are internationally renowned, including Urs Lüthi, Michael Wesely, Jerry Zenuik, Rudi Tröger, Bodo Buhl, Gerhard Richter and Peter Wüthrich. They have made the New Gallery an acclaimed exhibition site at the gateway to Munich, one that is no longer an insider's tip.

The Artists' Association Dachau (KVD) – one of the last artists' associations in Bavaria – evolved from the artist's colony in Dachau at the beginning of the 20th century. 

The KVD has its own gallery, in which at least 8 exhibitions are held every year, including one with works from members of the association.

The Dachau Water Tower provided the town with water from 1910 till 1969. It was nearly forgotten and in danger of falling apart until it was extensively restored in 1998. Through the work of the "Dachau Water Tower Promotion Society" (Forderverein Dachauer Wasserturm), it became the site of cultural events, such as exhibitions, author readings and concerts.