Dr h.c. Ingrid Mössinger
long-serving Director-General of the Chemnitz Art Collections
Honorary citizenship conferred on 20 April 2018
Ingrid Mössinger, who grew up in Stuttgart, initially studied library science, and later art history, archaeology, ethnology and philosophy. She worked as a curator at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, served as director of Art Frankfurt in 1992–93 and subsequently as director of the Kunstverein Ludwigsburg. In 1996, she was appointed director of the Chemnitz Art Collections. Just under a decade later, in 2005, she was appointed Director-General of the Chemnitz Art Collections, which today comprise not only the Museum am Theaterplatz but also the Gunzenhauser Museum, the Schloßberg Museum, the Henry van de Velde Museum in Villa Esche and the Carl-Friedrich-Claus-Archiv Foundation. With around 106,000 objects, the Chemnitz Art Collections are among the largest municipal museums in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Ingrid Mössinger has received numerous awards for her work. In 2007, she was awarded the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. This was followed in 2016 by the Cross of Merit, First Class, of the Federal Republic of Germany. Mössinger is also a recipient of the Saxon Constitutional Medal (2010) and the Saxon Order of Merit (2014). Since 2008, she has held the title of Knight of the French Legion of Honour, and since 2010 she has also been a recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog. In the same year, she was also awarded the Central German Business and Communication Prize, the ‘Heiße Kartoffel’. In 2015, the Director-General was awarded an honorary doctorate by Chemnitz University of Technology.
Ingrid Mössinger was also a member of the University Council of the Berlin University of the Arts and a member of the ZDF Television Council. She is currently a member of the University Council of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and a member of the Board of Trustees of Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle.
The conferral of honorary citizenship in recognition of her services to the art collections and the city of Chemnitz took place during a ceremony attended by more than 500 guests at the Chemnitz Opera House, including honorary citizens and representatives from the worlds of politics, business, culture and society.
The laudatory address was delivered by Dr Thomas de Maizière, a long-serving federal and state minister. The Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, gave a welcoming address. Ingrid Mössinger also signed the Golden Book of the City of Chemnitz.
Interview with Ingrid Mössinger
(2018)
An almost normal week for Dr. phil. h.c. Ingrid Mössinger. “I’ll just take a quick phone call. The sculpture catalogue still needs to be finalised. I’ll be with you in a moment,” says the Director-General of the Chemnitz Art Collections, asking her guests for a little patience, before taking plenty of time to talk to them in detail a short while later. These are questions she has answered frequently over the past few weeks. For it is time to look back – a perspective that Ingrid Mössinger does not particularly enjoy. Yet on 30 April, her professional tenure as Director-General of the Chemnitz Art Collections will come to an end.
Her work
Ingrid Mössinger has left her mark on the Chemnitz Art Collections since 1996. Over more than two decades, she has not only played a key role in expanding the museum, but has also understood the potential of the collection and its tradition, and harnessed them for the benefit of the city. Her high-calibre and internationally acclaimed exhibitions have established the institution as a premier destination in the art world. Under Ms Mössinger’s leadership, the Art Collections were named ‘Museum of the Year 2010’ by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA).
Since 2001, the Kunstsammlungen have been listed in the Blue Book of culturally significant institutions of national importance in eastern Germany. In 2003, they were awarded the prize for the best German museum concept by the ‘Lebendige Stadt’ Foundation, beating 163 other contenders.
The reputation that the art collections enjoy thanks to Ingrid Mössinger has raised Chemnitz’s profile throughout the world. It is thanks to Ms Mössinger’s work that Chemnitz is now mentioned in the same breath as other major art cities. In terms of artistic quality, the museum can hold its own against the greats of the sector.
The exhibitions curated by Ingrid Mössinger have frequently caused a stir in international arts sections. Among other things, she brought ‘Picasso et les femmes’ (2002) to the fore, and staged exhibitions featuring Edvard Munch (1999), Lucas Cranach (2005), Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (2016), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (2007), the Peredvizhniki (2012), Andy Warhol (2014) and many others. She achieved a celebrated and much-admired world premiere with the first exhibition of Bob Dylan’s works (2007). The number of exhibitions held during Ingrid Mössinger’s tenure stands at around 170. In total, more than 500 artists from 45 countries were showcased.
Ingrid Mössinger rendered outstanding services through the expansion of the collection. Notable examples include the complete estate of Carlfriedrich Claus and the Loebermann Collection, a unique collection of works by Lyonel Feininger. The city also owes Ingrid Mössinger, amongst other things, the donation of Wolfgang Mattheuer’s complete body of graphic work by Hartmut Koch, as well as donations from the Flügge family, the Bastian family and, most recently, the Jacques and Yulla Lipchitz Foundation in New York. Neo Rauch’s painting *Die Abwägung* (*The Deliberation*), which has adorned the council chamber of the town hall since 2013, found its place there thanks to the museum director’s initiative.
It is largely thanks to the museum director that the unique collection of the Munich gallery owner Dr Alfred Gunzenhauser, comprising more than 2,400 works of Classical Modernism, found a home in Chemnitz in 2003. In 2007, the Museum Gunzenhauser – which had been specially converted to house the collection – was opened in the presence of the then Federal President, Horst Köhler. Over the decades, Ingrid Mössinger has placed her profound knowledge, her exceptional professionalism, her characteristic charming tenacity, her unshakeable courage and an excellent network at the service of the city of Chemnitz. She has demonstrated what is possible when skill and ambition come together successfully.
At the same time, the museum director has succeeded in fostering a sense of pride in ‘their’ art collections amongst the city’s residents. The ‘Friends of the Chemnitz Art Collections’ support association alone now has more than 1,000 members, making it the largest support association for a museum of fine art in Saxony. Making art accessible to everyone has always been one of Ingrid Mössinger’s guiding principles – a lasting result of this commitment is the ‘Konrad’ art bus, which has been bringing schoolchildren to the art collections since 2011. In total, more than 50,000 children have taken advantage of this service since then.
Chemnitz Art Collections
The Chemnitz Art Collections comprise a total of six venues. In addition to the art collections on Theaterplatz, the network also includes the Gunzenhauser Museum, the Schloßberg Museum, Rabenstein Castle, the Henry van de Velde Museum in Villa Esche and, since 2025, the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House.
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