The German city that is home to the Mathildenhöhe artists’ colony is Darmstadt.
The Darmstadt Artists’ Colony was founded in 1899 on the Mathildenhöhe by Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse. He invited artists and designers to develop modern approaches to architecture, interiors and applied art, hoping that the combination of art and industry would strengthen Hesse’s cultural and economic life.
The colony’s best-known early members included Joseph Maria Olbrich, Peter Behrens, Ludwig Habich and Hans Christiansen. Its first major exhibition, “A Document of German Art,” opened in 1901 and presented artists’ houses, studios and interiors as unified works of art. Later exhibitions expanded the site in 1904, 1908 and 1914.
Darmstadt is in the German state of Hesse, south of Frankfurt. The site is often called a Jugendstil landmark because Jugendstil is the German-speaking world’s term for Art Nouveau. It is not in Weimar, although Weimar is also strongly associated with German modern design through the Bauhaus. UNESCO inscribed Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt as a World Heritage Site in 2021.