The history of the Bauhaus from 1919 until 1933 is presented by a primarily chronological narrative in the 18 galleries of the ground floor of the Martin-Gropius-Bau.

The tour begins with the portrayal of the early Bauhaus in the midst of the socially, economically and culturally catastrophical situation after World War I, which was yet dominated by the will to reform and a spirit of change. The following rooms display the artistic works of the Masters (Room 2), Johannes Itten’s lessons (Room 3), the multifarious visual art of the students between abstraction and figuration (Room 4), the central importance of learning in the workshops (Room 5), the lessons with Kandinsky, Moholy-Nagy, Klee, Grunow and Hirschfeld-Mack (Room 6), the Bauhaus’ international reciprocation with other centres of the avant-garde, in particular with the Dutch De-Stijl movement (Room 7), as well as the new direction and the large Bauhaus exhibition of 1923 (Room 8).

The exhibition deals with the new potential for development and realisation following the move to Dessau in 1925, in particular in regard to the area of architecture (Room 9), the concepts on synthesis in realising new ideas of a “Gesamtkunstwerk” in the area of stage and theatre (Room 10), the lessons of Albers, Schlemmer and Joost Schmidt and the further development of the preliminary course (Room 11) the new orientation of the workshops (until 1930) and the development of prototypes for serial, industrial production (Room 12), the architectural concept of Hannes Meyer (Room 13) as well as Hannes Meyer’s lessons and workshops (Room 14), photography at the Bauhaus (Room 15) and the role of the visual arts at the Bauhaus in Dessau (Room 16). Finally, Room 17 is dedicated to the oeuvre of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Room 18 portrays the novel architecture lessons during the Mies van der Rohe era with concepts by Arndt, Reich and Hilberseimer – the end of the Bauhaus.

Designed by the scenographs chezweitz&roseapple, the presentation of the historical Bauhaus is located in the 18 ground floor galleries of the Martin-Gropius-Bau.