Murnau Castle Museum

It conveys the special features of the Alpine foothills as well as the local tradition and culture of Murnau, which is closely linked to this outstanding artistic work.

The heart of the museum is the extensive collection of works Gabriele Münters as well as works by the artists "New Artists' Association Munich" and the "Blue Rider" (among others by Wassily Kandinsky, Marianne von Werefkin, Alexej Jawlensky, Franz Marc, Heinrich Campendonk). The exhibits make it clear that they found many of their motifs in Murnau and the surrounding area since 1908, Bavarian folk art - in particular Reverse glass painting - got to know and here the decisive artistic step towards a new one expressive painting succeeded. Kandinsky pursued his consistent path to non-objective art and spent important working phases here with Marc, Münter and Macke preparing the almanac "Der Blaue Reiter".

An extensive documentation is dedicated to this Playwright Ödön von Horváth, who lived mainly in Murnau between 1924 and his politically forced departure in 1933, where he wrote his plays "To the Beautiful View", "Italian Night", and began the novel "Youth Without God". Horváth's expressive painting and texts draw on the encounter with the Murnau landscape, the place and its people.

The history and development of the Murnau market lead to representations of local trades: feather flower production and reverse glass art, expanded by the international Dammert and Gartner collections, which present national works from Europe and Asia in addition to local products.

Early landscape painting in the foothills of the Alps since the 18th century provides another attractive focus.

The Murnau Castle Museum was awarded the Bavarian Museum Prize in 1995.

Special Exhibitions

Special exhibitions regularly take place in the Murnau Castle Museum.