In the mid-1920s, Walter Gropius designed a unique building in Dessau for two leading representatives of the Bauhaus: Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Built in 1925-26, the Kandinsky/Klee villa was one of six master houses (Meisterhäuser) in which the architect combined functionalism with painterly experimentation. In Dessau, the project demonstrated the vision of a community of master and apprentice and highlighted the ideas of the Bauhaus, combining the visual arts with craftsmanship and new technologies.
The architecture of the building broke out of any decorative patterns of the era. Gropius opted for simple geometric forms: a cubic volume with a flat roof and floor-to-ceiling glazing. The light-coloured concrete walls and reinforced concrete lintels were left in a stark white tone to emphasise their sculptural character. Thanks to the skilfully placed windows, the interiors have gained direct contact with the pine forest surrounding the villa, and the boundary between nature and living space has been optically blurred.
The interiors designed by Kandinsky and Klee were a continuation of their painterly explorations. Walls, ceilings and built-in furniture became canvases for expressive geometric and organic compositions. Each part of the house was characterised by an individual colour palette – from energetic yellows and blues to muted shades of grey and deep purples. The artists used space as a tool to evoke specific emotions, creating an interior that was both functional and provocative of the senses.
After the Bauhaus closed in 1932, the house underwent numerous alterations that blurred its original expression. It was not until the early 1990s that the first restoration work was undertaken, and since 2017 the Wüstenrot Stiftung has been conducting a major reconstruction of the section dedicated to Kandinsky and Klee.
During the works, the original layers of paint were restored, the original colours were reproduced, and the roof and installations were upgraded, while preserving the historic structure and volume of the building. In 2019, to mark the centenary of the Bauhaus School, the villa reopened its interiors to the public.
Today, the Villa Kandinsky/Klee in Dessau is considered an icon of the heritage of modernism and a symbol of the harmony between architecture and art. Listed by UNESCO, it is a constant inspiration for architects, interior designers and artists. Its history proves that a house can be more than a shelter – it can serve as a creative space, an experiment and an ideological manifesto.
photos: Thomas Wolf © Wüstenrot Stiftung
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