The Prinzhorn Collection is a German collection of art made by mental health patients, housed at the Heidelberg University Hospital.[1] The collection comprises over 20,000 works, including works by Emma Hauck, Agnes Richter and August Natterer.[1][2][3]

Sammlung Prinzhorn

Location	Germany
Coordinates	49°24′35″N 8°41′19″E
Website	prinzhorn.ukl-hd.de
Location of Prinzhorn Collection
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History

The collection was founded by the psychiatrist Karl Wilmanns and his assistant, doctor Hans Prinzhorn, in the early 1920s.[1][4] Between 1919 and 1921 the pair visited mental hospitals across Germany, initially collecting over 5000 works.[4][5][2] As of 2016, the collection held over 20,000 works.[5] Prinzhorn, a physician and art historian, was engaged by the hospital in 1919 specifically to improve and expand the collection.[6]

Works from the collection were included in Entartete Kunst, the famous 1937 Nazi exhibition of 'degenerate' art.[6] Following the war, the collection, largely neglected, was stored in the attic of the hospital.[6] In 1973 a conservation effort was undertaken that led to the restoration and cataloguing of the collection.[6]

The collection was influential on the practice of the artist Jean Dubuffet, who visited it in 1950.[7] Writing to Henri Matisse, Dubuffet described it as "something I have dreamt of for years".[8]

In 2001 the collection was opened to the public as the Sammlung Prinzhorn Museum.[9]

References

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