Between 1899 and 1914, the Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt was the site of the
legendary Artists’ Colony, founded by the young Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of
Hesse. Situated close to the city centre, it became a sensational experimental
field for artistic innovations in which the open-minded sovereign and a group of
young artists realised their vision of a fusion of art and life. Their intention
was to revolutionise architecture and interior design in order to create a
modern living culture. The whole human life-style was to be reformed to gain in
beauty and happiness as well as in simplicity and functionality.
This ideological aspect was particularly important in the euphoric beginning,
when the Artists’ Colony still stood under the influence of an elitist
aestheticism. After 1901 the program became gradually more rational and
realistic. The change of ideas is visible among other things in the numerous
buildings created on the Mathildenhöhe between 1900 and 1914. They were
presented to the general public in four comprehensive exhibitions in 1901, 1904,
1908, and 1914. Though the artists had at first exclusively projected the
construction of private villas, they later also created apartment houses and
workers’ homes as architectural life size models on the Mathildenhöhe,
documenting their efforts to face the arising questions of their time’s life and
housing.
The ensemble of the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony is considered today to be one of
the most impressive records of the dawning of modern art. Its appearance today
is still marked primarily by the buildings of the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich,
who notably created the remarkable silhouette of the Mathildenhöhe, as it
presents itself to the city, consisting of the Wedding Tower and the Exhibition
Building, both completed in 1908.
The Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt is a kind of “open-air museum” where the artwork is
present in the buildings, fountains and sculptures. At the same time, in the
former studio house and spiritual centre of the artists’ colony, the
“Ernst-Ludwig House”, created 1901 by Joseph Maria Olbrich, is today a museum
that presents fine and decorative art from the members of the artists’ colony.
The unique integrity of the building complex is today a first-class cultural
attraction. Moreover, the Mathildenhöhe is today a lively and contemporary
centre of the city’s cultural landscape, supported namely by the Institute
Mathildenhöhe.
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