Although, as a result of these trips, he created landscapes depicting those southern areas Kimmich soon returned to his proper motifs, i. e. the Black Forest and its people.

He was awarded an honorary citizenship of his birthplace Lauterbach in 1977 His wife Hildegard Lutz from Munderkingen, whom he had married in 1949, died in 1980.

There are a number of paintings and drawings of other areas in the South West of Germany and − as mentioned before − of the Ticino and Northern Italy.

Initiated by Manfred Schlayer (1934 − 2005), the longstanding mayor of Lauterbach, the Kunstverein Wilhelm Kimmich (see external links) was founded in 1997.

This voluntary association is instrumental in preserving and presenting Kimmich's work in the gallery, and in publishing a complete register of his legacy.