“Permanent liberation” > Exhibition of works by the painter Hans Hermann

Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, 1 July 2022

The exhibition ‘Colour’s Open Secret’, which will be shown at the Goetheanum until 20 July 2022, offers insight into the diverse creative work of the painter Hans Hermann (1922–2002). His work covers a wide range from naive painting to attempts at grasping the sensory and supersensory in abstract pictures to the liberation of colour.

Barbara Schnetzler, the curator of the exhibition, points out that “Hans Hermann’s work shows the consistent quest of a painter who goes his own way without worrying about losses and who lives art as a permanent process of liberation.” Both his pictures and his writings reflect this lifelong search for the spirit, for the enchantment of nature and the influence of cosmic forces on life. At the same time, Hermann was always open to new ways of artistically expressing the forces at work in the world, for instance by trying to realize his ideas through video art.

Hans Hermann was born and grew up in Pratteln, Switzerland. Early on in his youth, he developed a deep interest in art and in what is hidden behind the things. When he met anthroposophy in 1953, new artistic activity evolved. He acquired different painting techniques and explored and learned about social processes.

He put his versatile approach to art into practice as a teacher at the Goetheanum painting school (Malschule am Goetheanum). He offered painting courses in many other places and was head of the Visual Art Section at the Goetheanum from 1972 until 1986.

This exhibition shows his work for the first time as a comprehensive retrospective in the Goetheanum Art Gallery.

(1583 characters/Barbara Schnetzler; English by Margot M. Saar)

Exhibition Colour‘s Open Secret, ends 20 July 2022, Goetheanum

Illustrated book (in German) Hans Hermann. Werk und Leben (work and life), edited by Nicola Schneider Hermann, SchneiderEditionen, 2022

Contact person Barbara Schnetzler