Exhibition: Robert and Clara Schumann as patients

Location

entrance 6 Euro, reduced 4 Euro

The art of medical healing was still in its infancy at the time of Robert and Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann's maternal grandfather was a military doctor. It has only been known for a few years that Robert Schumann's lifelong fear of mental illness was due to the fact that at the age of seven he witnessed his older sister being taken to an insane asylum. The fact that he himself had to spend the last two and a half years of his life in such an institution was perhaps due to a misdiagnosis. At the age of 20, he had to realise that he would have to give up his career as a pianist due to a hand disease. Although Clara Schumann pursued an extremely successful career as a pianist on the stages of Europe for more than 60 years, it is little known that she also had to interrupt this career for more than a year in 1873/74 due to a hand disease. It was also only through recent research that her hearing problems, which began at a young age, and her dental treatment came to light. The special exhibition in the Robert Schumann House shows documents relating to such illnesses of Robert and Clara Schumann and their treatments. The documents are complemented by interactive stations developed in collaboration with the Faculty of Physical Engineering/Computer Science at the University of Applied Sciences Zwickau.

Duration: 7 September to 30 December 2025

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00
Saturday and Sunday 13:00 to 17:00