A groundbreaking exhibition at Elisabethenburg Castle in Meiningen brings together East German art focusing on the lives of farmers and rural workers. The collection of graphics, photographs, paintings, and sculptures is being displayed for the first time in nearly 20 years, featuring both propaganda works and system-critical pieces as part of the exhibition "Free Art for Free Farmers? The Farmers' Gallery: A Picture of the Late GDR," which opened on Thursday.

The exhibition showcases works from the so-called "Farmers' Gallery," which operated from 1987 to 1990 and was designed to connect farmers with the state through art. This marks only the third time since the fall of the GDR that these works have been publicly displayed, with their last showing in 2006. The current exhibition coincides with the anniversary of the Peasants' War, making it particularly timely for historical reflection.

Curator Almut Pollmer-Schmidt hopes the exhibition will introduce GDR-era art to a new generation of viewers. "People might come to this exhibition with preconceptions about art from the GDR, but those will be magnificently broken down by the relationships that the works enter into," she explained. The collection primarily features works from the late 1980s, including complete graphic series by Gert Mackensen, graphics by Gisela Kurkhaus-Müller and Frank Gottsmann, photographs by Katharina Müller, and sculptures by Jo Jastram.

Among the exhibition's highlights are works by renowned East German artists Willi Sitte and Bernhard Heisig. Sitte's "The Country Sauna," a large triptych full of energy and movement depicting rural workers removing their work clothes, sweating, showering, and resting, now hangs alongside Flemish portraits in the permanent collection. Due to space constraints in the special exhibition area, Pollmer-Schmidt has integrated some pieces from the "Farmers' Gallery" into the museum's permanent displays, creating fascinating dialogues between different eras and styles.

The concept for the "Farmers' Gallery" emerged in 1985 during the Thomas Münzer Year, when the Association of Mutual Farmers' Aid initiated the creation of an art collection depicting the lives of agricultural workers and cooperative farmers. This was intended as a counterpart to the better-known collections of Wismut, the East German uranium mining company. The project represented a major political initiative aimed at connecting farmers with the state through artistic expression.

The collection was housed in the massive Ringberg House in Suhl, which served as a vacation home for agricultural workers and farming association functionaries from 1979, accommodating 900 guests. A separate gallery annex was built to house the collection and host rotating exhibitions. Herbert Schönemann, who later became director of the Erfurt Art Gallery, served as the responsible curator until 1988. "Works were commissioned throughout the entire GDR for the collection," Pollmer-Schmidt noted, while Schönemann also personally visited artists in their studios.

The 1980s saw the emergence of many critical works in GDR art, including pieces addressing environmental concerns like coal mining. Günther Richter's "The Last Summer in Aitra" depicts an abandoned house in Eytra, a village that was relocated and sacrificed to brown coal mining. Similarly, a graphic by Dieter Bock von Lennep shows one of Dürer's Apocalyptic Riders against the backdrop of a brown coal landscape, offering stark commentary on environmental destruction.

One of the first commissioned works for the Farmers' Gallery collection was the "Fritz Dallmann" cycle, painted by Walter Womacka for the foyer of the Ringberg House. This created a veritable historical cycle about the life of the chairman of the Association of Mutual Farmers' Aid. Pollmer-Schmidt has dedicated an entire room in the Meiningen exhibition to the Dallmann cycle, noting that "the third picture rightfully divided opinions during GDR times." The work shows Dallmann oversized as a savior under the sign of the rainbow, with grain trickling from his hands and combine harvesters working the fields in the background—an idealized image of prosperous agriculture that contrasted sharply with the actual agricultural crisis of the time.

While the "Farmers' Gallery" art collection includes some rather mediocre works with propagandistic gestures, it also features very different artistic signatures of high quality. The collection undoubtedly fulfills what the exhibition title promises: a genuine picture of the late GDR. The exhibition runs from October 31, 2025, through March 8, 2026, at Schlossplatz 1 in Meiningen, open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with admission priced at 6 euros (4.50 euros reduced rate).