With "Expressionism! Works from the Horn Collection," the Kirchner Museum Davos launched a multi-year international exhibition tour of the Horn Collection, which was subsequently continued at the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund and the Moritzburg Art Museum in Halle (Saale).
The exhibition showcased over 180 works by Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Mueller, Käthe Kollwitz, Ernst Barlach, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Alexej von Jawlensky, and Max Pechstein. The Horn Collection, which formed the centerpiece of the presentation, was assembled over six decades by the collector couple Rolf and Bettina Horn as one of the most significant German collections of Expressionism. For the first time, the collection was on display in Switzerland with more than 120 works. In conjunction with the Kirchner Museum's collection, a unique perspective on the work of the "Brücke" painters and other expressionist artists emerged.
Few artistic movements embodied the dawn of modernity in Europe better than Expressionism. At the turn of the century, Expressionism positioned itself as a counterpoint to conservative bourgeois culture and academic painting, advocating for nothing less than a new interpretation of art. Instead of reproducing artificial aesthetics in the studio, Expressionists sought landscapes and figures as expressions of an inner emotional world. The detachment of color from the real environment and immediate expression became the highest artistic value.
Through vibrant works by Brücke artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Max Pechstein, and Otto Mueller, the exhibition illuminated the motifs, motivations, themes, and techniques of Expressionism. Works by Käthe Kollwitz, Alexej von Jawlensky, and Ernst Barlach provided insight into the expressionist artistic activity of the time, which continues to influence our understanding of art to this day.
The exhibition placed special emphasis on the societal critique inherent in Expressionism. Its works reflected a period of intense social and aesthetic change. In addition to the events and consequences of the First World War, this included a focus on urbanization and industrialization, a radical reinterpretation of the nude and nature, and an engagement with non-European worlds. Simultaneously, the exhibition examined fundamental tensions and contradictions in the worldview of the Expressionists. Their themes, attitudes, and desires were related to current socio-political urgencies to explore questions of the exoticization of gender, colonial "others," and rural life. For this societal perspective, Kadiatou Diallo, Rohit Jain, and Katharina Morawek were invited as a curatorial advisory committee. More information about this collaboration, the implemented and planned interventions, and the perspectives of our partners can be found in the exhibition brochure.
A joint exhibition of the Kirchner Museum Davos, the Ostwall Museum at the Dortmund U, the Moritzburg Art Museum in Halle (Saale), and the Rolf Horn Foundation at the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation Gottorf Castle.
