Luxury

From October 24, 2026, to June 6, 2027, the LA8 Museum—Museum of 19th-Century Art and Technology in Baden-Baden—will present a cultural-historical themed exhibition titled “Luxury—The Pleasure of Abundance.” From the early days of industrialization to the end of the Weimar Republic, the concept of luxury underwent a fundamental transformation. The exhibition sheds light on this turning point toward a modern consumer, leisure, and work-oriented society. It traces how luxury made the leap from an aristocratic privilege to a bourgeois status symbol and ultimately took hold of society as a whole as a mass-market desire. The exhibition explores how industrialization shaped consumer behavior, what social distinctions it created, and how luxury goods became mass-produced items. The themes range from colonial cuisine to architecture and fashion, and even extend to intangible forms of luxury.