VI. Expressive Worlds

The German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner also became involved in the Swiss mountains and rural population as subjects after settling in Davos in 1917. His adopted home provided him with new artistic inspiration and motifs. He produced mountain landscapes that were expressive in both colour and form, describing himself as an innovator of Alpine painting, working in the wake of Ferdinand Hodler.

A number of young Basel-based artists were inspired by Kirchner’s work, which was presented in an exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel in 1923. Albert Müller, Hermann Scherer, Werner Neuhaus, Paul Camenisch and Otto Staiger sought to connect with Expressionism and founded the Rot-Blau (Red Blue) group of artists on New Year’s Eve 1924/1925. They visited Kirchner in Davos, where they received both inspiration and advice.

Instead of an objective reproduction of visible reality, the artists were striving for an immediate form of expression informed by subjective experiences and feelings. Inspired by the style of the Brücke group of artists, they developed a form of landscape and figure painting characterised by its raw formal language and intensely vibrant colours.