Charlotte Perriand

L’art d’habiter / Die Kunst zu Wohnen

Sun, Nov 2, 2025–Sun, Mar 15, 2026

Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Haus Esters, Haus Lange

Under the title L'Art d'habiter. The Art of Living, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld are dedicating the first retrospective in the German-speaking world to the French architect and designer Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999). Her visionary design approaches are still relevant today. She is one of the most influential personalities to emerge from Le Corbusier's studio. The show focuses on Perriand's innovative contributions to living and is being created in close collaboration with the Archives Charlotte Perriand.
The main exhibition in 2025 will take place in the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum (KWM) as well as in Haus Lange and Haus Esters - the two villas designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Viewed together, the three exhibition venues will create a vivid picture of Perriand's work. In the rooms created by Mies van der Rohe, the show invites visitors to immerse themselves in a central chapter of French modernism. From her iconic tubular steel chaise longue to the Les Arcs ski resort, Perriand's work encompasses buildings, interiors and furniture that have evolved radically over almost seven decades. From questions of economic, ecological and social living - through approaches that combine modern living with traditional techniques, craftsmanship and local production - to sustainable production and the circular economy: many of her principles have enormous relevance to current issues and challenges and continue to inspire designers today.

The thematic retrospective offers a unique insight into Perriand's 70 years of creative work and enables visitors to discover the innovative thinking and interdisciplinary design approach of this exceptional artist. At the heart of the exhibition are Perriand's dialogues with the environment: her fascination with new techniques and materials, her studies of nature and cultures, as well as rural life and traditions, her political stance and her collaborations with other artists, designers and architects. A mediation program on sustainable living creates platforms for further dialogues on living together today.

KWM
The exhibition at KWM shows Perriand's design process since the early 1920s in thematic sections such as Industry Moves into Everyday Life or Learning from Country Life* using numerous original pieces of furniture, including international loans from renowned museums, as well as archive documents and photographs. Large-format, walk-in and usable room and architectural reconstructions bring Perriand's work to life.

Haus Lange
The presentation at Haus Lange, created as a villa for an art collector, focuses on Perriand's guiding principle of the synthesis of the arts as well as her creative dialog with other cultures and artists (e.g. Fernand Léger, Isamu Noguchi, Le Corbusier). In the Bauhaus Villa, Perriand's concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk and the relationship of modern design to nature and the local environment can be rediscovered. With interiors inspired by her stays in Japan, Indochina and Brazil, we are furnishing the Mies van der Rohe residence and creating a unique ambience that makes Perriand's cultural influences on interior design immediately tangible.

Haus Esters
The exhibition in Haus Esters contextualizes the retrospective on Charlotte Perriand and links it closely to the history of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld and the international present. Highlights from the Kunstmuseen Krefeld's design collection will be on display here, providing a different perspective on the relevance and topicality of Perriand's ideas and design strategies - from the Werkbund to the Bauhaus and the present day. The Perriand show serves as an opportunity to supplement the design collection in a targeted manner, especially with new acquisitions in the field of sustainable design, which are being presented here for the first time.

An exhibition cooperation between the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, the Museum der Moderne Salzburg and the Fundació Miró, Barcelona. Starting in Krefeld, it will be the first major exhibition on Charlotte Perriand in all three countries.

Curated by Katia Baudin with Juliane Duft