Maximilian Kirmse (*1986 Berlin) lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig and the Düsseldorf Art Academy. He completed his master’s degree with Professor Astrid Klein in 2015.
Maximilian Kirmse’s images tell of “a laid-back Berlin rhythm of life, without needing to resort to grand dramas or invent absurd motifs. Far removed from tourist fantasies of the glamorous old West, sleepwalking party people in Mitte or cool hipsters in the gentrified urban landscape of Prenzlauer Berg, his drawings and paintings capture the easygoing way of life in his neighborhood.
Unlike the above clichés, this ordinariness is all the more disturbing because it leaves any sensationalism in the dust and, conversely, holds up a mirror to it. His scenes always seem to be observed from a neutral distance, meaning they can neither be seen as studies of “Milljöh” (i.e. milieu, in reference to Zille’s works) nor as a chronicle of a big city.
Without any respect for academic traditions and ignoring the oppressive idea of progress of the avant-garde principle, Maximilian Kirmse’s work brings together stylistic and aesthetic elements of “highbrow” and “lowbrow” culture in a completely unfettered way, combining them into an inseparable conglomerate that defines his both idiosyncratic and precise style.” (Dr Michael Hering in the exhibition catalog Berlin Mon Amour, published on the eponymous solo exhibition at the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung / Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 2024)
Maximilian Kirmse’s works were part of various institutional exhibitions, including Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Museum Wiesbaden; Kunsthalle Bozen, Bolzano and are part of collections, such as the Collection of Contemporary Art of the Federal Republic of Germany; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung Munich | Pinakothek der Moderne; Collection of the Kunstfonds des Freistaates Sachen; Sammlung Haus N, Kiel & Athens; Hort Collection, NYC.
Born in Berlin / geboren in Berlin
Lives and works in Berlin and Leipzig, Germany / lebt und arbeitet in Berlin und Leipzig, Deutschland
Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Meisterschüler, Prof. Astrid Klein
Art Academy Düsseldorf, Diploma, Prof. Andreas Schulze
Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Prof. Astrid Klein and Prof. Oliver Kossack
Scholarship, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Scholarship, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
2025
MAXIMILIAN KIRMSE | Die Brillenschlange, Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin
2024
MAXIMILIAN KIRMSE – BERLIN MON AMOUR, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung | Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
RAUM FÜR PHANTASIEVOLLE AKTIONEN. Neupräsentation der Sammlung” Kunstmuseum Bonn
EMOZONI, Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin
Kissers Kissing on Ku’damm, James Fuentes OVR, New York
Jetzt! Junge Malerei in Deutschland, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Kunst am Bau, curated by Hans-Jürgen Hafner, Gunter Reski & Marcus Weber, Berlin, GER
Bright Light, curated by Domenico de Chirico, Gussglashalle, Berlin, GER
Gallery Galerie Galería: Good Weather (North Little Rock), Franz Kaka (Toronto), LOYAL (Stockholm), Galería Mascota (CDMX), Sans Titre (Paris), Studioli (Rome), Tatjana Pieters (Gent), Jack Barrett Gallery, New York, USA
Jetzt! Junge Malerei in Deutschland, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Museum Wiesbaden, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz / Museum Gunzenhauser
Maximilian Kirmse | AMAZONI, Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin
WIN/WIN, Ankäufe der Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen, Halle 14, Leipzig
MAXIMILIAN KIRMSE | interzoni, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Ausstellung der Meisterschüler*innen der HGB 2017, Leipzig
Facetten des Daseins, Fidschi Fischer, Maximilian Kirmse, Oliver Russman and a speech by Florian Hesselbarth
Neue Kamellen aus der Kupferkanne, Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin
Group show, with Maximilian Arnold, Ronny Bulik, Sebastian Burger, Nadira Husain, Maximilian Kirmse, Przemek Pyszczek, Katharina Schilling, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig
VOL. 3: NOTHING TO HIDE, A GROUP SHOW ABOUT THE FEMALE BODY, SEX AND EROTICISM., Sans Titre (2016), Paris, France
BÜLOW ECKE STEINMETZ, real positive, Cologne
Corriger la Fortune, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin
Material Art Fair, Sans Titre, CDMX, MEX
OFF 2, Kunsthaus Essen, Essen
Comedy Club 2 featuring: Katherine Botten, Patrick Eicke, Armen Eloyan, Nschotschi Haslinger, Maximilian Kirmse, Aidan Koch, Clemens Reinecke, Tanja Ritterbex, Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx
SAMMLUNG SIMONOW, Kunsthalle Bozen, Italy | Berlin | Düsseldorf
Group Show V, Galerie Alexander Levy, Berlin
‘bbo bbo (뽀뽀)’, with FIDSCHI FISCHER, Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig
TERMINATOR HIGH with Felix Zocher, HKDB, Duisburg Abschluss, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Das ist alles deine Schulze, Philara, Düsseldorf
copy and re:peat, Kunsthalle der Sparkasse, Leipzig
Seeds of Colour, UPON PAPER SPACE, Berlin
‘Another Brick in the Wall’, with Robert Brambora, Jens Einhorn and Georg Weißbach, C.Rockefeller Center for the Contemporary Arts, Dresden
Copy and Re:peat, BKS GARAGE, Copenhagen, Denmark
KRISTALLINE (LULU), with Robert Brambora, Jens Einhorn and Fabian Kuntzsch, A100, Düsseldorf
Natur 3D, Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig, Leipzig
Wir belohnen Sie, Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig
Empathie Faszinatie, with Inga Kerber & Matthias Sommerer, HGB Leipzig
Big Piece, Herbstrundgang Baumwollspinnerei Leipzig Arme Seelen, curated by Oliver Kossack, HGB Leipzig
Kunstmuseum Bonn
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München in der Pinakothek
Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Sammlung des Kunstfonds des Freistaates Sachsen
