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Kollwitz Museum Cologne

Käthe Kollwitz’s (1867–1945) commitment and political stance, her emotional impact, and her unmistakably powerful visual language ensure that her work remains highly relevant to this day. At the Kollwitz Museum Cologne, visitors can explore the world’s most comprehensive collection of her works—a place that offers a multifaceted glimpse into the artist’s life and work within the context of her time. Nowhere else can you get closer to Kollwitz.

Exterior of the Kollwitz Museum in Cologne, located in the heart of downtown Cologne
The Kollwitz Museum Cologne, located in the heart of downtown Cologne, in the Kollwitz Forum right on Neumarkt—not far from the Romanesque Church of St. Aposteln © Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Photo: Christian Nitz 2025

About the museum

Today, the collection comprises more than 300 drawings, over 550 prints, and more than 30 self-portraits. Highlights include notable works from her early period, such as oil sketches and paintings by the young Kollwitz, as well as colored pastels, unexpectedly genre-like scenes in charcoal or ink, and studies for early prints. Expressive drawings from her late creative phase powerfully document her intense engagement with the themes of death, loss, and transience.

With her print series “A Weavers’ Revolt,” “Peasants’ War,” “War,” “Proletariat,” and “Death,” all of the artist’s major series are represented, which rank among the milestones of 20th-century printmaking. The collection is complemented by rare proofs that trace the artistic creative process, as well as by all known—and rarely preserved—posters in which Käthe Kollwitz placed her art in the service of social activism. Her sculptural work is also represented, to the extent that it is available to the museum—primarily in early bronze and zinc castings created during the artist’s lifetime. 

In addition to the constantly changing presentation of the collection, the museum regularly hosts special exhibitions that place Käthe Kollwitz’s work in new artistic and social contexts and highlight its enduring influence up to the present day. Since 2022, the Kollwitz Museum Cologne has been under the leadership of Director Katharina Koselleck, who is shaping the museum’s further development with new scholarly and curatorial initiatives.

All further information can be found on the website of the Kollwitz Museum Cologne.

Go to Website

Impressions from the museum

A view of the exhibition, with a bronze sculpture in the foreground

Kollwitz Museum Cologne, view of the exhibition; in the foreground, the bronze “Tower of the Mothers” by Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) © Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Photo: Christian Nitz 2025

A view of the exhibition

Kollwitz Museum Cologne, view of the exhibition © Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Photo: Christoph Seelbach 2026

A view of the exhibition, with a bronze sculpture in the foreground

Kollwitz Museum Cologne, view of the exhibition; in the foreground, the bronze sculpture “Soldiers’ Wives Waving Goodbye” by Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) © Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Photo: Christian Nitz 2025

Self-Portrait with Head Resting on a Support

Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), Self-Portrait with Head Resting on a Hand, 1889/91, pen and brush in sepia on handmade paper, 200 x 163 mm, NT 25, Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Inv. No. 70200/96008, www.kollwitz.de

Poster “Never Again War,” 1924

Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), poster “Never Again War,” 1924, chalk and brush lithograph (reprint), 940 x 685 mm, Kn 205 III b, Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Inv. No. 70300/88018, www.kollwitz.de

A painting of a mother throwing herself over her endangered children

Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), Air Raid Bomb (Mother Throwing Herself Over Her Endangered Children), 1924/25, brush and ink on handmade paper, 250 x 350 mm, NT 960, Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Inv. No. 70200/84012, www.kollwitz.de

Visit information

0221 / 227-2899
0221 / 227-2602
museum@kollwitz.de

 

Tue–Sun 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Holidays 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
First Thursday of the month 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
Closed Mondays

Adults: 8 €
Reduced rate: 4 €

Free for all children and teenagers under 18, art history students, refugees and their accompanying persons, as well as for the accompanying person of individuals whose disability ID card bears a “B,” for members of ICOM, the German Museum Association, the Association of German Art Historians, the Ulmer Verein, the Federal Association for Museum Education (BVMP), the Professional Association of Visual Artists (BBK), for artists from Cologne, and for members of the press—upon presentation of valid proof.

Annual pass
25 € / reduced 15 €

Note for group visits: Our art educators will be happy to guide you through the collection or exhibition in private tours.
Please register in advance (0221 / 227-2899 or museum@kollwitz.de)

KOLLWITZ MUSEUM COLOGNE
Kreissparkasse Köln
Kollwitz Forum
Neumarkt 18–24, 50667 Cologne

Website: https://www.kollwitz.de
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KollwitzMuseum
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KollwitzMuseum

Directions & transport connections
Public transport Bus, tram, subway: 
Neumarkt stop

Parking
Wolfsstraße parking garage, CONTIPARK Lungengasse parking garage, Am Neumarkt parking garage, City Krebsgasse parking garage, etc. 

The museum is accessible to people with physical disabilities and wheelchair users.

Where is the Kollwitz Museum Cologne?