Few dog breeds are as instantly recognisable as the dachshund, with its long back, short legs and floppy ears. Now the low-slung hound has its own museum show. Since Saturday, the Kunsthalle Bremen in northern Germany has been presenting “The Dachshund: An Icon Off the Leash”, an exhibition that is believed to be the first in the world devoted exclusively to the dachshund in art. It runs until 28 March 2027.
A muse with four short legs
The show brings together roughly 120 historic and contemporary works. The list of lenders and artists reads like a who’s who of modern art: Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Otto Dix and Max Liebermann all appear. Museum director Christoph Grunenberg explained that many artists owned, loved and were inspired by dachshunds, and that the breed acted almost like a muse. Curator Annett Reckert points out how often the dog served as model and studio companion.
One highlight is Picasso’s connection to Lump, the dachshund of the American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan, who ended up living with the painter for years. Picasso even slipped Lump into his famous variations on Velázquez’s Las Meninas, replacing the large mastiff of the original with the little hound. David Hockney, for his part, painted his own two dachshunds in the mid-1990s, at a difficult time in his life, and once said the real subject was not the dogs but his love for them.
From badger hunter to Olympic mascot
The exhibition also tells the cultural history of the breed. Bred in Germany more than 300 years ago to hunt badgers (the German name combines “Dachs”, badger, and “Hund”, dog), the dachshund moved from underground burrows into aristocratic salons and middle-class apartments. During the world wars it became a symbol of Germany, and later the colourful striped dachshund Waldi became the official mascot of the 1972 Munich Olympics, chosen to present a friendlier, more open country to the world.
The first gallery sets a playful tone with an installation by contemporary artist Thorsten Brinkmann, which combines stuffed toys and memorabilia borrowed from the Dachshund Museum in Regensburg.
Four-legged visitors welcome
The most unusual feature: the show is not only about dogs, it is partly for them. On Thursdays and Saturdays, three of the eight galleries are open to dachshunds and other small dogs. They need a booked time slot, a maximum shoulder height of about 30 centimetres, and must check in at a special “Dachshund Lounge” first.
It is a light-hearted theme, but a serious art-historical idea sits underneath: how an animal can carry personal affection, national symbolism and humour all at once. For anyone travelling to Bremen this winter, it may be the friendliest exhibition in Europe.