In the first half of the 20th century, three great German-speaking artists and writers settled in one of Switzerland’s wine-growing regions: Friedrich Dürrenmatt in Neuchâtel, Hermann Hesse in Tessin and Rainer Maria Rilke in Valais.
Vines and wine, emblematic features of the landscape they chose to live in, played a decisive role in their lives and art.
How does wine figure in the work of Rilke, Hesse and Dürrenmatt? How were these three great figures of 20th-century art and literature, who lived and wrote amid Swiss vineyards, inspired by these characteristic landscapes?
Through numerous quotations, photographs, drawings and personal objects, the exhibition shows the wide variety of their perceptions and sensibilities.
This bilingual travelling exhibition is an initiative of the Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel ( CDN), which collaborates with the Museo Hermann Hesse in Montagnola (canton of Tessin) and the Fondation Rilke in Sierre (canton of Valais).