Heidelberg University Hospital's museum for art by people with psychiatric experience – from the 19th century to today's outsider art.
June 28, 2026 – January 31, 2027
The anniversary show asks how works can be exhibited that were often never meant for an audience. On view are, among other things, the reconstructed doll by Katharina Detzel and reprinted fantasy banknotes by Else Blankenhorn.
The core of the collection was assembled by the art historian and psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn, who, as an assistant physician at the Heidelberg Psychiatric University Hospital between 1919 and 1921, asked institutions across the German-speaking world for pictures, objects, and texts by their patients. In this way, the hospital's older teaching collection grew by several thousand works. His book "Bildnerei der Geisteskranken" (Artistry of the Mentally Ill), published in 1922, made the collection internationally known and became an important source of inspiration for the Surrealists.
During the Nazi era, works from the collection were misused: in 1938, they served in the traveling exhibition "Entartete Kunst" (Degenerate Art) as defamatory comparison material against modern art. After the war, the collection fell largely into oblivion until Harald Szeemann showed a selection at the Kunsthalle Bern in 1963, followed by further exhibitions in Germany and abroad.
In 2001, the collection got its own museum in a converted former neurology lecture hall on the old hospital grounds in the Bergheim district – partly in response to proposals to hand it over to Berlin. The historical holdings comprise around 8,000 works from between 1840 and 1945, including works by August Natterer, Else Blankenhorn, and Adolf Wölfli. Since 1980, works by contemporary artists with psychiatric experience have been continually added, so that the collection now numbers about 40,000 works.
Since 2020, a permanent exhibition of around 120 works has offered an overview, alongside two to three thematic special exhibitions each year. The museum also sees itself as a research institution and aims to help destigmatize mental illness; an extension is planned.
| Adults | €10 |
|---|---|
| Reduced | €7University students, apprentices, people with severe disabilities (GdB 50 or more), employees of psychiatric institutions, ArtCard holders |
| Children & teens | freefree up to age 14 · Children up to 14 and school students aged 14 to 18 free. |
| Seniors | –No senior discount listed. |
| Visitors with disabilities | €7Reduced rate with a disability degree (GdB) of 50 or more. |
| Students & apprentices | €7Students of Heidelberg University free. |
| Groups | –Groups of 10 or more, please register in advance by email or phone. |
| Admission to the permanent exhibition only (when no special exhibition is on) | €7Reduced €5 |
Free admission with, among others, the Heidelberg-Pass, Kulturpass (Kulturparkett Rhein-Neckar), and ICOM card; for members of the Freunde der Sammlung Prinzhorn (friends' association), volunteers (FSJ/BFD), employees of the university hospitals of Heidelberg and Mannheim, and patients of the Heidelberg Psychiatric University Hospital; free once with the HeidelbergCard.
According to the museum, it is not accessible. The website offers information in Easy Read German (Leichte Sprache).
The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.
Altes Hallenbad
Altes Hallenbad stop (lines 21, 26, 34, 35) or Bismarckplatz (lines including 5, 32, 33), each a few minutes' walk away.
Parking available
Hospital parking garage P15 on Thibautstraße.
By car, take the A 656 toward Heidelberg, follow the Neckar riverbank, and after the underpass beneath the bridge turn right at the traffic light onto Thibautstraße (signs for P15/Psychiatrie).
Get directionsMuseum café in the neighboring building (the former cafeteria of the Zentrum für Psychosoziale Medizin), Mon–Fri 10:30–14:00. Museum shop with publications.
The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.
| Guided tours | yes · approx. 60 min |
|---|---|
| Good to know | During special exhibitions, public guided tours on Sundays at 11:30 and Wednesdays at 17:30, free plus admission, no registration required. Group tours (max. 20 people, about 1 hour) by arrangement, also in English and French; booking at 06221 56-318318. |
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