The new extension of the Museum Franz Gertsch opens on the occasion of the artist’s 89th birthday with an exhibition of works by Franz Gertsch from 1954 to 2018. Spread out across the whole building, it includes the newly built Four Seasons Gallery for Gertsch’s cycle and features the premiere of a new painting.

The exhibition at the Museum Franz Gertsch builds on the show with which the museum was opened in 2002. The focus is now placed on the museum’s own collection, which has grown considerably in the meanwhile, as well as the works produced by the artist since that time. Major loans from the collections of the artist and the museum’s patron Dr h.c. Willy Michel are likewise on view.

The knowledge about the establishment of a museum dedicated to the presentation of his work not only inspired the artist Franz Gertsch since the late 1990s to think in terms of exhibition spaces but also to create whole groups of works for such spaces. In the first exhibition gallery we can see the familiar, indeed classic arrangement of works encompassing the portrait ‘Silvia I’ with ‘Gräser I – IV’ [Grasses] that were already presented together when the original museum building opened.

The second combination of this kind is located in the extension. The paintings making up Franz Gertsch’s Four Seasons cycle from the collection of Dr Michel now permanently unfold their fascinating effect in a custom-made space.

Alongside two painted works from the early 1950s, the other exhibition spaces present paintings and woodcuts produced by the artist between 1986 and 2018. Visitors to the museum can trace the diverse facets of the motif variations employed by Franz Gertsch in his work, including the female portrait, grasses, butterbur, Schwarzwasser river and landscapes.

A further highlight is the Swiss premiere of Franz Gertsch’s recently completed painting ‘Grosse Pestwurz’ [Large Butterbur] (2018), which is shown in Burgdorf for the first time.

The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle in collaboration with the artist.