Upcoming Exhibition
The Dachshund
An Icon off the Leach
Once bred as a short-legged expert for hunting badgers, the dachshund has literally worked its way up. From underdog to star! Today, it is an irresistibly likeable and iconic figure. The exhibition will follow the dachshund in a humorous and critical manner with around 120 high-calibre historical and contemporary works of art. In addition to painting, drawing, photography, video, installation and performance, there are forays into popular culture, decorative and toy design – and in all of this, an attempt to take on the perspective of the dachshund itself.
Whether as a Biedermeier home accessory, a bobblehead on the hat rack or Waldi, the colourful, striped Olympic mascot, the dachshund shapes the image of Germany. Internationally, it is in the spotlight as the sausage dog or Wiener dog. Artists are impressed by its radically perfect figure. Its notorious gaze from below, its non-conformity and its penchant for idleness make it a true figure of identification.
Ylla (Camilla Henriette Koffler), Four Dachshunds, c. 1948
Photography, © 2025 Pryor Dodge, graphic design: Bernd Grether
The who's who of Western art history loved and loves the dachshund. Pablo Picasso and his studio dachshund Lump became an unforgettable duo thanks to the photographs of David Douglas Duncan; for Andy Warhol, Dachshund Archie is an alter ego; David Hockney’s paintings of Stanley and Boodgie are an almost cinematic homage to his dozing dachshunds. Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, Pierre Bonnard and even the legendary animal photographer Ylla were dachshund fans. In international contemporary art today, Rosemarie Trockel, Paloma Varga Weisz and Elina Brotherus, among others, give us food for thought with their dachshunds.
The exhibition features works by, among others, Sonja Alhäuser, Alex Bailey and Krõõt Juurak, Pierre Bonnard, Thorsten Brinkmann, Elina Brotherus, Franz Burkhardt, Ashley Cecil, Mark Dion, Otto Dix, Lisa Elmaleh, Hugo Fortes, David Hockney, Gabriela Jolowicz, Carolin Klapp, Fritz Koch-Gotha, Max Liebermann, Camilla Nicklaus-Maurer, Pablo Picasso, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Rosemarie Trockel, Paloma Varga Weisz, Édouard Vuillard, Andy Warhol and Ylla.
More InfoYour Visit
Photo: Melanka Helms
Dachshund Meet-up in June 2026
To mark World Dachshund Day, the Kunsthalle had invited dachshund owners to a gathering with their dog on the grassy areas around the museum.
You can find a review of the Dachshund Meet-up on our blog, along with lots of photos (in German).
David Hockney, Dog Painting 46, 1995
Oil on canvas, 45,7 x 64,8 cm, © David Hockney. The David Hockney Foundation
Franz Burkhardt, Waldi, 2025
Pencil, ink and gouache on paper, 29,7 x 20,8 cm, © Franz Burkhardt
Max Liebermann, Sleeping Dachshund, 1915
Oil on canvas, 72,5 x 64,5 cm, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, photo: Reinhard Haider
Andy Warhol, Cats and Dogs (Maurice), 1976
Acryl and screen print ink on canvas, 81,3 x 66 cm, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, © 2026 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
David Douglas Duncan, Picasso shows his dachshund, Lump, a ceramic plate dedicated to him, Villa La Californie, Cannes, 19. April 1957
Photography, 53 x 35 cm, Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster, © Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin; für Pablo Picasso: © Succession Picasso / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
Elina Brotherus, My Dog is Cuter Than Your Ugly Baby, 2013
From the series: Carpe Fucking Diem, pigment ink print on paper, 80 x 53 cm, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
Thorsten Brinkmann, Toxie, 2025
Bronze, 50 x 42 x 24 cm, Courtesy the artist & Galerie Mathias Güntner, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, photo: Thorsten Brinkmann
Gabriela Jolowicz, Dachshund on Mueller Street, 2026
Woodcut, 79 x 75 cm, © Gabriela Jolowicz
Krõõt Juurak & Alex Bailey, Performances for Dachshunds, 2026
Photo: Kunsthalle Bremen
Otto Dix, Dachshund, 1920
Oil on cardboard, 50 x 60 cm, Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen, Loan of ZF Friedrichshafen AG Friedrichshafen, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Five Dogs, 1806/1807
Watercolour and opaque paint, 21,2 x 32,9 cm, Hamburger Kunsthalle / bpk, photo: Christoph Irrgang
Carle Vernet, Two Dachshunds, from: Hunting Dog Studies, 1773-1825
Lithograph, 16,5 x 19,9 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen
Édouard Vuillard, Maquette pour un portrait de Bonnard, c. 1930
Tempera on paper on canvas, 114,5 x 143 cm, Paris Musées / Musée d'Art moderne de Paris
Gustava Tölken, Play with Shadows, c. 1955
Lithograph, 42,9 x 30,8 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, © Estate Gustava Tölken
Dog Days: The Kunsthalle Bremen welcomes dachshunds
During the exhibition, dachshunds and small dogs up to 30 centimetres at the shoulder are permitted every Thursday from 12 noon to 6 pm and every Saturday from 12 noon to 4 pm.
Entry with a dog is only possible with an online time-slot-ticket booked in advance. Entry is free for dogs – but if you’d like to bring another human companion, please make use of the Dachshund Lounge so that you can see the whole exhibition.
Accompanying presentation: Youth for Art. DOGS. CATS. HUMANS.
Sat, 26.09.2026 – Sun, 22.11.2026
For the sixth time, the Kunsthalle Bremen is collaborating with Youth for Art and making its premises available for this project. As part of this, works by around 70 young artists, who drew inspiration from the Dachshund exhibition, are presented in the South Foyer.