Vor Bildern

Robert Walser's writing developed between two other strong artistic interests: theater and visual arts. In the latter, his brother Karl, the painter, was a major influence; he introduced Walser to the old masters and early on brought him into the Berlin art scene. Here, Walser was at the pulse of the times: during the Secession, of which he even served as secretary for a season, he saw the most significant works of the Impressionists. Walser's interest in painting continued even after his years in Berlin. He continued to write for the magazine Kunst und Künstler and attended exhibitions in Bern and Zurich. Thus, Walser—without actually intending to—wrote something like a small art history in his scattered prose pieces and poems. The spectrum is characteristically diverse in Walser's style: here he encounters the works.