Eduard Schleich the Elder first discovered the moorlands of Dachau [Dachauer Moos] in the mid-19th century with some of his fellow artists. Most of the paintings that he produced were in a small, square format, also referred to as “hand towel format”. People were not important in landscape paintings, but it is quite common to find figures in Schleich’s paintings. Some people say that his painter friend Carl Spitzweg painted these figures into the landscapes for him.

Text and research Mrs Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau.

Lovis Corinth came to Dachau after hearing about it from his painter friends, particularly Arthur Langhammer. Corinth was particularly fond of Langhammer’s dog “Hipp”. Not only did Corinth often paint the dog, but he also described him, “Hipp trots along like a bear, you can really see how he feels through his facial expressions, much more than in other dogs faces, ears and tails. He obeyed his master’s every word and turned his head right or left upon command, when he needed to model.”

Text and research Mrs Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau

One day, architecture professor Adolf Gnauth saw Dill’s portfolio and said: “Why do you want to be an architect, you absolutely must become a painter!”

Dill had already completed his engineering studies, even though he finished without a certification. He had also been a soldier and now wanted to study architecture. He ultimately ended up becoming a painter! When walking with Adolf Hölzel in Dachau one day, a woman suddenly came out of her little cottage on the banks of the River Amper and said: “Ah Professor, will you buy my house from me?” After visiting the property, which had a large garden directly on the river, Dill bought the house and became a resident of Dachau. He kept it even when he was called to the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe.

Text and research Mrs Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau

“Nudes and Steeds are enough for me…” – that was Max Feldbauer’s slogan for life. In 1908, he was able to build a house “for himself, his wife, horse, dog and cats” as he worked as a painter and a teacher at the Ladies Academy in Munich. Feldbauer was a large man and filled every room he entered. He accented his appearance further by wearing striking clothing and a bowler hat.

He signed the back of his paintings either with the name of the model or the designation of the horses. Unfortunately, he always signed with a pencil and as such in many cases his signatures have faded with time.

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Every summer, Otto Strützel stayed in the small village of Etzenhausen and was closely connected to it until his death in 1930. You can see that Strützel visited many different artist’s colonies in some of his paintings. For example, in the painting “Bridge on the Amper near Mittendorf” two farmers are depicted in clothing that was typical of farmers from the North of Germany. It is possible that he took the inspiration for these figures from drawings he had already made in his sketchbook. This was proof that he worked in a variety of different regions as a “colony hopper”.

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Bernhard Buttersack became familiar with the district of Haimhausen during his stays in Dachau. He was looking for a calm and quiet place to live and acquired a large parcel of land at the outskirts of Ottershausen where he built a house with an artist’s studio and took up landscape gardening as a hobby. He arranged the many trees that he planted into groups: here there were conifers, there birches and over there, species from other countries. This created an incredibly unique park. He opened a painting school in his studio and the Haimhausen/Ottershausen painting center was born. The residents of Haimhausen and Ottershausen welcomed the art students with open arms and offered up the guest rooms in their homes. This often led to decades-long friendships being formed between inhabitants and their guests.

Text and research Mrs Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau

Arthur Langhammer arrived in Dachau in 1900 and became close friends with Adolf Hölzel and Ludwig Dill. The art critic Arthur Roeßler named the work of the three friends “New Dachau”. Dill was happy to have a friend to accompany him on his walks in the moorlands. When Langhammer told him that he was not just a landscape painter, he advised his friend to: Have your figures sit by the water, then you can paint both the landscape, and the reflection in the water.

His dog Hipp could often be found sitting patiently next to his easel. Langhammer often used his coat to clean his paintbrushes, earning him the nickname the “colorful dog of Dachau”.

Langhammer died when he was just 47 years old.

Text and research Mrs Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau

Paul Thiem frequently visited Dachau art colony but was already a resident of Starnberg in 1896.

Alongside producing artistic creations as a painter, he also worked as a graphic artist, writer and book illustrator. He wrote dramas and the humoristic novel “Der Prinz und sein Onkel” (“The Prince and his Uncle”).

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August Kallert was an excellent speaker, lecturer and amateur actor and he even entertained small convivial crowds with his guitar performances. He was a founding member of the Ludwig Thoma Association and a co-organizer of the Artists’ Festivals, which were famous far beyond the borders of Dachau. “It is like living in a cheerful Montmartre” wrote Simplizissimus magazine.

His wife Lissa, a piano teacher, was a very hardworking woman and managed to keep the small household together with the money that she earned from giving lessons.

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Robert Franz Curry came from Boston, USA, and lived in Oberstdorf for many years. Curry did not let sub-zero temperatures stop him from painting landscapes outside, so he was nicknamed the “Snow painter”. In 1944, the family moved into an art nouveau-style villa in Riederau am Ammersee that Robert Curry’s father had built as a replica of the family’s home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

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Lilly Hildebrand-Uhlmann came to Adolf Hölzel’s painting school in Dachau in 1900 through fellow painter Ida Kerkovius. After studying in Dachau, she followed him to Stuttgart where she became a master student. As she was Jewish, she was affected by the occupational ban under National Socialism in Germany. Her son Rainer Hildebrant joined the resistance movement against National Socialism and later became the head of the “Haus am Checkpoint Charlie” Museum in Berlin.

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Karl Schröder added the second surname “Tapiau” to his artist’s name. It was a way for him to show his affinity for his East Prussian home, and perhaps a little pride too as the artist Lovis Corinth, who was 12 years older and better known than Schröder-Tapiau, also came from this region. We owe paintings of some of the oldest and long since disappeared buildings in Germany to Karl Schröder-Tapiau. He was the introverted East Prussian throughout his entire life. As a founding member of the “Dachau Artist’s Association” he was there right from the beginning, but more at the association’s meetings than at the Artists’ Festivals.

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Hans von Hayek was a co-founder of the Dachau Museum Association and was significantly involved in setting up the art gallery. In 1906 Hans von Hayek suggested that the association should aim to create a capital base for building and setting up a gallery using donations or small down payments. The response from the artists must have been extraordinary, as after a short period of time von Hayek was able to report that the creation of the gallery was assured. It is safe for us to assume from this that most artists gifted their paintings to the association.

Hans von Hayek’s grave can be found in the Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetery).

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Adolf Hölzel first came to Dachau with his family in 1888 and was one of the first artists to settle here. As Hölzel lost his fortune, which was held in his parent’s business, he set up his own painting school, the first and the most important in Dachau. The special thing about this school was that Hölzel did not draw on the work of his students but instead pointed out any changes that needed to be made simply be speaking to the student or by drawing examples.

Brewery owner Eduard Ziegler built a house for Hölzel and his family on a parcel of land close to the Amper that was befitting of his ranking in society.

Soon after, Adolf Hölzel became the director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and he left Dachau in 1905.

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“If you want to become a painter, you have to forget about everything else” – that was Paula Wimmer’s view of her profession. She first moved to Dachau for a few years in 1915 and later lived an artists’ studio in the Moosschwaige estate. She was known as the “Mother cat of Augustenfeld” as while she lived in humble circumstances herself, she always fed the cats that lived in Augustenfeld. Her sketchbook was full of drawings of cats because of this.

Her colorful paintings radiated joy. She once said, “I paint theatre with colors” and this can clearly be seen by anyone looking at one of her paintings.

Paula Wimmer’s grave can be found in the Waldfriedhof (Forest Cemetery).

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Not only could Giulio Beda be easily recognized because of his large stature, but also because of his hat, which became almost like his trademark. “The Beda” as he called himself – he never properly learnt German – quickly got involved in public life and was a passionate singer. But when it came to his work, he liked peace and quiet, which he frequently expressed. Once when he was disturbed by two women chatting loudly whilst he was painting in the courtyard garden, he called out to a passing magistrate and said: “Are there no laws that say that you can lock up boneheaded women?”

Beda did not paint portraits. “The Beda painted himself once and the result was an ape”, he once explained to a visitor.

Beda unfortunately died after falling down some steep stairs in his home. His grave can be found in the Waldfriedhof (Forest Cemetery).

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During his lifetime, museum and art experts paid almost no attention to Karl Stuhlmüller. He was not involved in exhibitions in Munich and instead spent his summers moving around the country without a fixed residence. He preferred the regions around Dachau, Aichach and Schrobenhausen and painted the cattle markets there. His paintings are full of people and tell stories of days gone by. They could even be considered as “historical documents”, even if Stuhlmüller painted the tower of St. Jacob’s Church on the wrong side.

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While Jean Lehmann learned the hotel trade, he nevertheless studied art at various different schools and places. He became familiar with Dachau while living in Munich. He financed his studies by working as a museum tour guide and as a figure skating instructor for prominent figures in St. Moritz.

He signed his later works with “JLLS – Jean Lehmann Luzern St. Moritz”, to avoid being confused with other artists that had the same name.

Text and research Mrs Anni Härtl, tour guide of the city of Dachau