Walter Kurt Wiemken

Walter Kurt Wiemken prints bring the dreamlike, sometimes unsettling vision of a key Swiss modern painter into your home. Wiemken moved from Expressionism through Impressionist landscapes to a personal, surreal style that set the joys and sorrows of life side by side. Our collection of fine art prints covers his Collioure and Basel views, his still lifes and portraits, and his crowded, symbolic late paintings.

About Walter Kurt Wiemken

Walter Kurt Wiemken was born in Basel on 14 September 1907 to German parents who had become Swiss citizens. At four months old he caught polio, which left him disabled for life, and he lived and kept his studio in his parents' house; his father ran a lithography business. From 1923 to 1927 he studied at the Basel trade school under Fritz Baumann, founder of the Expressionist group Das neue Leben, and he joined the circle of the Rot-Blau group, founded by pupils of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

In 1927 he spent a semester at the State School of Applied Arts in Munich, then travelled to Paris with the painter Otto Abt, where he painted his last Expressionist pictures, mostly gloomy street scenes. In 1928 and 1929 he went with Abt and Walter Bodmer, his lifelong friends, to Collioure in the south of France and to Ticino, painting landscapes; they returned to Collioure many times until 1939.

Seeing a young girl's funeral pass while a butcher went about his work nearby made a deep impression on him, and from then on he tried to show life's opposites side by side. In 1933 he co-founded Gruppe 33 with Abt and Bodmer, in protest against conservative trends in Swiss art and against fascism. On 30 December 1940 he went out alone for a walk and fell into the Breggia gorge near Castel San Pietro; his body was found in January 1941. His work was shown at the first documenta in Kassel in 1955.

Style and Subjects

Wiemken's early work is Expressionist, with dark city streets and strong contrasts. After 1927 he took up a lighter, Impressionist manner in his landscapes of Collioure and Ticino.

In the 1930s, influenced by Serge Brignoni, Kurt Seligmann and Pablo Picasso, and later by James Ensor and Bodmer's constructivism, his paintings became surreal and symbolic. Crowded scenes of figures, skeletons, lovers, houses cut open and flags set the light and dark sides of human life together in one picture.

Famous Works

• View from Fort Miradou in Collioure. A view over the Mediterranean town where he painted with friends from 1928.
• Evening on the Seine. A Paris scene from his early travels.
• Black Flags. A dark, symbolic picture from his politically engaged 1930s.
• Cross Section of a House. A house cut open to show the many lives inside, a favourite idea of his.
• Morning (1939). One of his late dreamlike compositions.
• Cycle (1940). A late picture of the cycle of life, setting birth, love and death side by side.
• View of the Batterie toward Basel (1940). A view of his home city from his final year.

Decorating with Wiemken Prints

Wiemken's Collioure and Basel landscapes suit a living room, study or hallway, where their soft colour and quiet mood sit well in modern and mid-century interiors.

His surreal late works, such as Cycle and Black Flags, are statement pieces for a study, office or creative space. They reward close looking, so hang them where people can stand near them, perhaps beside bookshelves or in a reading corner.

FAQ

Who was Walter Kurt Wiemken?

He was a Swiss painter from Basel (1907–1940) who moved from Expressionism to a personal, surreal style. He co-founded the anti-fascist artists' group Gruppe 33 in 1933.

What art movement was Wiemken part of?

His early work is Expressionist and his landscapes Impressionist, but his best-known paintings of the 1930s are close to Surrealism, influenced by Picasso, Kurt Seligmann and James Ensor.

What was Gruppe 33?

Gruppe 33 was a group of Basel artists founded in 1933 by Wiemken, Otto Abt and Walter Bodmer, among others, to oppose conservative trends in Swiss art and architecture. It was also openly anti-fascist.

How did Walter Kurt Wiemken die?

He went out for a walk alone on 30 December 1940 and fell into the Breggia gorge near Castel San Pietro in Ticino. He was 33.

Related Artists

• Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: his pupils founded the Rot-Blau group Wiemken joined as a young artist
• James Ensor: Belgian painter whose surreal art he studied in 1937
• Fritz Baumann: his teacher at the Basel trade school