Orangerie und Otto Dix Haus

Description

In the historic centre of Gera-Untermhaus, the Otto Dix House is located at Mohrenplatz 4; the building in which the painter Otto Dix was born is today used as an art museum.

The heritage-listed half-timbered house was opened as an exhibition venue in 1991 on the occasion of Otto Dix’s 100th birthday; the displays extend across two floors.

The museum stands beside the Marienkirche on Mohrenplatz and is in close proximity to the Hofwiesenpark (site of the 2007 Federal Garden Show) as well as to Schloss Osterstein.

The building dates from the 18th century and is believed to date to 1728. In 1946 the rear building was converted for residential use. Between 1988 and 1991 a comprehensive redesign of the ensemble was carried out; on the west side a newly erected, historicist-style ancillary building was added, and an extension was built to serve as an access and functional wing.

Until 2007, museum education programmes formed part of the house’s profile: trained museum educators and artists supervised children’s and youth groups, who, organised by age group, produced their own works and used the ongoing exhibitions as models for motifs or techniques.

In June 2013 floodwater from the Weiße Elster reached the ground floor, creating a need for restoration. The house had to be closed on 4 January 2016; individual exhibits were temporarily shown in the city museum. On Otto Dix’s 125th birthday, 2 December 2016, the Otto Dix House reopened with the special exhibition “Otto Dix: The Art of Drawing with Silverpoint.”