Kurt Schwitters

In the collage Bruderholz, Schwitters created a dark background against which he arranged light-coloured paper fragments. In the left-hand half of the composition, an orange-coloured element with the word Sonntag, meaning Sunday, immediately catches the eye. Beneath it appears a text which translates as:

“1499 Sieg der Eidgenossen beim Bruderholz über die Deutschen.” 

In English: 1499 victory of the Swiss Confederates at Bruderholz over the Germans. This refers to the historical event in which troops from Bern, Lucerne and Solothurn defeated the imperial soldiers of the Swabian League at the Battle of Bruderholz near Basel. The arrangement of a circular form and a long, narrow strip of paper along the lower edge of the image evokes the shape of a cannon.

It is striking that Schwitters incorporates this event, which can be seen as a symbol of the Swiss struggle for freedom, into his collage. The work thus underscores the importance of his connections with Switzerland. In 1935, Schwitters was forced into a position of withdrawal within Germany, often described as “inner emigration”. It was only when travelling abroad, for example to Switzerland, that he encountered openness towards his art among friends and collectors of modern art.

“Basel was wonderful, with very enthusiastic and kind people, lots of dancing, six sales, and much to see in terms of architecture, museums and nature. I spent eleven days there and enjoyed it very much.”

Schwitters was in Basel in 1935, having been invited to give a lecture evening by the collector couple Annie and Oskar Müller-Widmann. They lived in the Basel district of Bruderholz. The success of the event and the positive response to his work gave Schwitters renewed strength and helped him overcome the sense of resignation caused by the political situation in Germany.

On the same day, Schwitters also produced this collage. When he departed, he left it with an acquaintance in the hope that a buyer might be found. In 1945, almost ten years later, the work was shown in a small exhibition of Schwitters’ collages at the Kunstmuseum Bern. After his death in 1948, the first posthumous commemorative exhibition of Schwitters’ work took place in Basel. On that occasion, the collage was acquired by Maja Sacher, founder of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation. The work thereby received recognition from a Swiss collector.