In the location's words:

The Chemnitz Art Collections are among the largest and most important municipal art collections in Germany. The art collections originated from various civic associations, such as the Kunstverein Kunsthütte zu Chemnitz, founded in 1860. In 1909, they were brought together under the umbrella of the König-Albert-Museum and from 1920 were run as a municipal museum. Today, the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz comprise a complex of different museums and institutions: the Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz with the Carlfriedrich Claus Archive, the Gunzenhauser Museum, the Schloßbergmuseum with Rabenstein Castle and the Henry van de Velde Museum.

The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz enjoy a high regional, national and international reputation due to their lively and highly regarded exhibition activities with a focus on international modernism as well as important thematic and individual presentations, and also due to significant collections.

In addition to its exhibition projects, the art collections have also received several awards for their special commitment to education and outreach, for example in the Konrad the Art Bus project for school classes: including inclusion in the Blue Book of Nationally Significant Cultural Institutions and membership of the Conference of National Cultural Institutions in 2001, the prize for the "Best Concept for Living Museums and Modern Cultural Sites" from the Lebendige Stadt Hamburg foundation in 2003 and the "Museum of the Year" award from the German section of the International Association of Art Critics in 2010.