The house, designed for Dix by the architect Arno Schlecher, is situated in the village of Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen on the Höri peninsula at Lake Constance, south of Stuttgart. The artist, who is best known for his portraits of notable figures in pre-war Germany, and who was regarded as a “degenerate artist” by the Nazis, moved to Hemmenhofen in 1936, where he lived until his death in 1969. Dix had mixed feelings about the idyllic location, once stating that it was “so beautiful that you have to vomit.” In the 1991 the house was opened to the public, but a lack of funding meant that the building gradually fell into a state of decay.

The estate will be run by the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and will show temporary exhibitions of Dix’s works. An annual scholarship will be awarded to a young researcher to organize the shows. In addition there will be a permanent exhibition showing the home during the period when the artist lived there with his family. The foundation has already raised more than $2.1 million: the city of Stuttgart has given $357,000 and there have been significant contributions from the municipalities of Gaienhofen and Konstanz, as well as from private sponsors. Bettina Pfefferkorn, Dix’s grandchild, has also supported the project by selling the house to the foundation at 50 percent less than its estimated market value.