With around 65 rarely shown works by German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938), the exhibition revisits his self-curated 1933 retrospective at Kunsthalle Bern—then the most comprehensive of his career.
The exhibition explores how the artist curated his own legacy through the deliberate selection, presentation, and even reworking of his pieces. A highlight is the long-awaited reunion of Sunday in the Alps. Scene by the Well and its pendant Mountain Peasants on Sunday, shown together for the first time since 1933.
Other key loans include works from The Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid), and the Museum Folkwang (Essen). Organized thematically across five rooms, the exhibition emphasizes Kirchner's artistic range—from the Die Brücke period to his late works in Davos—while revealing his innovative curatorial strategies. By examining how Kirchner shaped his own narrative, Kirchner x Kirchner offers new insights into his identity as both artist and curator, set against a turbulent historical backdrop.
