Adolf Wölfli: Memorandum

Overview

To mark the opening of the exhibition on Saturday, 31 October 2026, from 18:00 to 21:00, we warmly invite you.

At the end of the 1920s, Adolf Wölfli (1864–1930) created two large-format works under the title „Memorandum“: in 1926 the monumental work Memorandumm, and a year later the 120 × 187 cm work Memorandum.Die Trummbann: Schyackt, in Nord=Amerika, which is today in the Sammlung Zander. The first of these two drawings, which Wölfli made like all his works with graphite and coloured pencils, was created for a lounge of the psychiatric institution Waldau near Bern, where he spent 34 years as a patient until his death; the second drawing he designed for the private client Hermine Ferndriger-Marti, a follower of Carl Gustav Jung.

By its origin, the word „Memorandum“ refers to memory and remembrance. And so Wölfli, in a 55-line explanation that he wrote on the back of Memorandumm, also described this work as a „Angedenken“ (memento) of his „im allerhöchsten Grade hochintteressante, lehrreiche ab’r höchst gefährliche, Schöpfungs=Reise“ (journey of creation, in the highest degree most interesting, instructive but most dangerous).

Machine translated into English.

Details

ArtistsAdolf Wölfli

CuratorsMaximilian Gilleßen

More about this exhibitionSammlung Zander (Outsider Art)

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