Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
and the grandeur of the mountains
1st April - 31th July 2021
Starting from the recent acquisition of the painting Heimkehrende Ziegenherde (Herd of Goats Returning Home, 1920), which the Fondazione Braglia is presenting to the public for the first time, the exhibition Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the Grandeur of the Mountains focuses on Kirchner’s output during his stay in the Swiss Alps between 1917 and 1938. The tour of the exhibition’s 67 works by Kirchner is separated into four topics: the shepherds, mountain life, the characters who populated the artist’s mountain existence and the Alpine landscape.
The wish is also to highlight Kirchner’s innate desire to experiment with technique in his creative process. Thus, the visitor will find alongside the many oil paintings, works on paper (including pencil drawings, watercolours, woodcuts, lithographs and etchings), as well as a selection of photographs by Kirchner, a photo album in which the artist gathered images of all his paintings, and, lastly, two sketchbooks.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the Grandeur of the Mountains aims to offer the public an unprecedented glimpse into the intimate universe of an artist who desperately sought refuge in the mountains to heal his existentialist angst and who, through an authentic and decisive language, manages to resonate with the soul of all those who look at his works.
The exhibition is organized by the Fondazione Braglia, Lugano,
in collaboration with the Kirchner Museum Davos and the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archiv, Wichtrach/Bern.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Mondaufgang auf der Stafelalp, 1917 (det.), Kirchner Museum Davos, Leihgabe Rosemarie Ketterer Stiftung
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Skizzenbuch 089, fol. 57, 1922 (det.), Kirchner Museum Davos, Schenkung Nachlass Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1990
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bergwald III (Waldtal, Waldlandschaft mit Alphütte), ca. 1918, Courtesy Galerie Henze & Ketterer, Wichtrach/Bern
An unprecedented glimpse into the intimate universe of an artist who desperately sought refuge.
The exhibition is organized by the Fondazione Braglia, Lugano, in collaboration with the Kirchner Museum Davos and the Ernst Ludwig Kirsch Archiv, Wichtrach/Bern.
