Saxony's art collections with an increase in visitors

The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) are almost back to pre-corona levels in terms of visitor numbers and income. In 2023, 2.1 million visitors came to the museums of the association, which is almost 346,000 more than in 2022, said Commercial Director Cornelia Rabeneck at the annual press conference.

For 2024, she expects a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year. The Caspar David Friedrich exhibition, which opened at the beginning of September, has already attracted almost 50,000 visitors and the Children's Biennale, which runs until next year, has already attracted 67,000, more than half of the previous 2022 edition with a total of 110,000.

Highlights announced for 2025

The SKD is also planning top-class presentations in 2025. South African artist William Kentridge will be focusing on Dresden's Fürstenzug for his 70th birthday, Wolfgang Tillmans will be exhibiting in a German museum for the first time in years and the Festetage of the Residenzschloss will be opened, said General Director Marion Ackermann.

The highlights also include the first exhibition on the recent history of the Meissen porcelain manufactory and the 20th anniversary of the Gerhard Richter Archive. And Wolfgang Tillmans, one of the most important international contemporary artists, will be represented for the first time with a major solo exhibition in a museum in East Germany.

The Festetage in the Residenzschloss is expected to open in mid-November 2025 as a permanent exhibition on European festival culture. This will complete the tour of the museum network's largest historical domicile. "We have been waiting a long time for this," said Ackermann.