“Behind every artwork, there’s a ‘so what’.”

Born in Germany in 1946, Anne Loch is a painter who has received relatively little international recognition to date, and who for the most part conducted her artistic practice away from the public eye. As a painter, she championed a figurative visual language.

Loch studied painting in Düsseldorf in the 1970s before becoming active in the Cologne art scene, which at the time was a hub for contemporary art in the former West Germany. It was there that she exhibited alongside artists like Rosemarie Trockel, Jenny Holzer and Cindy Sherman. She seemed destined for a promising career. But in 1988, she radically withdrew, moving to Thusis in Switzerland. While living there, she quietly persevered with her creative practice and only occasionally exhibited her work, such as at the Erika and Otto Friedrich Gallery in Bern. In 2001, she returned to Germany, where she once again withdrew, largely isolating herself from the outside world and the art scene. She passed away in Bergell in 2014 following a brief illness.

In the wake of the Second World War, abstract art – such as abstract expressionism, minimal art and conceptual art – became dominant. It was not until the 1970s that painting found its way back to the “visible” world. Anne Loch plays a pioneering role in this development. In doing so, she establishes a distinctive visual language.

Her subject matter may appear trivial at first glance. But by enlarging her paintings to monumental proportions, they seem to lose all reference to their subject matter and to reality. Loch’s primary interest was the act of painting itself – the exploration of colour, surface and space. Or, as Anne Loch puts it herself: “I just paint strokes and how they relate to each other.”

Loch returned time and again to the same subject matter, but experimented with a vast array of techniques. Her oeuvre ranges from canvasses painted in rich, vibrant colours to sparse compositions consisting of only a few strokes. Her art invites us to conceive of painting not as a depiction of the world around us, but as its own self-contained means of seeing and experiencing.

1946 Anne Loch was born on 11 December in Minden, Nordrhein-Westphalia, Germany.

1968–1971 Trains as a fashion designer and works as seamstress.

1972–1978 Studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, attends the master class of Klaus Rinke, whose other students include Harald Klingelhöller, Reinhard Mucha, and Ulrich Loock.

1979 Spends time in Venice and Ravenna.

1980 In early summer, Anne Loch moves to Naples, where she experiences the devastating Irpinia earthquake on 23 November. She moves in the circle surrounding Lucio Amelio, the founder of a gallery that has been dedicated to the contemporary international avant-garde since 1964.

1981 Exhibition at the Goethe-Institut in Naples.

1982 Exhibition at Klapperhof 33 in Cologne with, among others, Peter Fischli, Gerard Klever, Milan Kunc, Rosemarie Trockel and David Weiss.

1984 Returns to Cologne. During the next few years she creates colourful floral and landscape paintings in monumental formats.

Anne Loch is one of the artists, alongside Rosemarie Trockel, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman, who are represented and specially supported by the gallery established by Monika Sprüth in the historic centre of Cologne in 1983. Monika Sprüth exhibits Anne Loch’s work in a number of exhibitions.

Becomes acquainted with Günther Förg, Walter Dahn, and the ‘Neue Wilde’ Martin Kippenberger and Volker Tannert.

1987 First solo exhibition at Neuer Aachener Kunstverein.

1988 Solo exhibition at Bonner Kunstverein.

Anne Loch turns her back completely on the art scene in the Rhineland. She separates from her husband and her two adoptive children and retreats to the seclusion of Thusis in the Grisons. Around 500 mostly large format works are produced between 1988 and 2002.

She becomes acquainted with the Bern gallery owners Erika and Otto Friedrich, who organise several exhibitions of her work in the city during the next few years.

1989 Start of a love affair that lasts many years but ultimately remains unfulfilled, and which coincides with a key creative period.

Anne Loch begins to make recordings on tape that she later develops into diaries (unpublished).

She continues to explore nature and landscape in her painting. Limitless numbers of photographs are taken on long hikes, in her studio and of television programmes.

1991 Solo exhibition HINTERRHEIN INDIFFERENTI at Galleria Toselli in Milan.

1994 Exhibition Oltre la montagna dipinta at Studio d’arte Raffaelli in Trento, together with, among others, Helgi Friðjónsson, Jan Knap, Karin Kneffel and Salvo.

1995 Outlines of the films Anarche and Der Tag.

2002 Returns from Thusis to Duisburg, moves to Essen in 2008.

Anne Loch is focussed only on her work. She has little or no contact with the art scene, galleries or art institutions.

She continues to work on groups of works started in Switzerland. She also turns to the production of new paintings in the same large format. She creates works on dazzlingly white backgrounds: sheep, deer, trees, flowers, landscapes, as well as abstract forms. She paints and draws with acrylic. Her tones range from bronze and tin via brown, black and blue to rich madder red. She draws with permanent markers and paints large landscapes and animals on white or roughly filled supports. Photography and writing continue to form part of her œuvre.

2013 Diagnosed as seriously ill with cancer, she retreats to Bergell, where she is cared for by friends. Despite everything, Anne Loch continues to devote her time to processing photographs and writes extensively.

2014 Anne Loch dies on 4th of April at Ospedale Asilo della Bregaglia Flin in Promontogno in Bergell.

2017 Solo exhibition Anne Loch. Artificial paradise at the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur.

2026 Solo exhibition Anne Loch: Painting: So what? at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern.

Führungen / Visites guidées / Guided tours / Visite guidate

Kunst über Mittag
Dienstags, 12:30 (jede 2. Woche, siehe Website)

Öffentliche Führung
Samstags, 15:00 | Sonntags, 13:30

Visites guidées / Guided tours / Visite guidate
Français : 2.8. / 13.9.2026, 15:00
English: 23.8.2026, 15:00
Italiano: 30.8.2026, 15:00

Freundeskreis Zentrum Paul Klee
Donnerstag, 6. August 2026, 18:00
Führung mit Amélie Joller (Kuratorin) und Expert:innen des Hauses. Exklusiv für Mitglieder

Einführung für Lehrpersonen
Mittwoch, 12. August 2026, 14:00
Eine Einführung für Lehrpersonen zur aktuellen Ausstellung mit Tipps für den Besuch mit der Schulklasse.

Kunst und Religion im Dialog
Sonntag, 16. August 2026, 15:00
Gaby Knoch-Mund (Haus der Religionen / Jüdische Gemeinde Bern) im Dialog mit Dominik Imhof (Zentrum Paul Klee)

Bilderclub
Donnerstag, 20. August 2026, 15:00–16:30
Samstag, 19. September 2026, 11:00–12:30
Eine offene Gruppe von Kunstinteressierten, die sich regelmässig trifft, um sich mit einem einzelnen Kunstwerk auseinanderzusetzen.

Sinn-Reich
Samstag, 29. August 2026, 13:00
Eine alle Sinne ansprechende Führung für Menschen mit und ohne Behinderung. Mit Gebärdensprachdolmetscher:in und induktiver Höranlage.

Creaviva

Fünfliber-Werkstatt
Di – So 10:00 – 17:00
Einfache Fotoanleitungen, kurzweilige Ideen und monatlich wechselnde Themen animieren zum eigenständigen Gestalten und kreativ Verweilen.
Für Kinder ab 4 Jahren, Jugendliche, Erwachsene und die ganze Familie

Offenes Atelier
Di – Fr 14:00 / 16:00
Sa – So 12:00 / 14:00 / 16:00
Einstündige Gestaltungsworkshops im Atelier.
Im Juli, August und September mit monatlich wechselnden Themen und Techniken in Anlehnung an die Ausstellung Anne Loch. Malerei: Na und? Für Kinder ab 4 Jahren, Jugendliche, Erwachsene und die ganze Familie

Familienmorgen
Sonntags, 10:15 – 11:30
Workshop im Atelier mit interaktivem Ausstellungsrundgang:
Ab 26. Juli 2026 mit Anne Loch den eigenen künstlerischen Ausdruck entdecken.
Für Familien mit Kindern ab 4 Jahren

Digital Guide

Implementation: Netnode AG
Project management: Dominik Imhof
Translations: Gegensatz Translation Collective

The Zentrum Paul Klee is accessible and offers inclusive events.

Publication

Anne Loch. Malerei: Na und? Anne Loch. Painting: So what!
DE/EN, with texts by Amélie Joller, Marta Dziewanska, Abraham David Christian, André Born, Mousse Publishing, CHF 34.-
Available at the museum shop.

With the support of