The German artist Ursula Schultze-Bluhm (1921–1999), who simply signed her works  «Ursula», ranks among the most exciting rediscoveries of post-war European art. A self-taught artist, she developed an entirely distinctive visual language while remaining closely connected to the international avant-garde movements of her time. 

Moving between Informel, Art Burt and Surrealism, she created a body of work that defies categorisation and captivates through its mysterious, inscrutable, yet often humorous visual worlds. Her works draw on motifs from antiquity and the Middle Ages, which she combined with personal inventions, observations drawn from literature and everyday life as well as impressions gathered during her travels. Over the decades, Ursula developed, within and through her paintings, a universe of her own, populated by fantastical creatures, dreamlike landscapes and personal mythologies, responding to the experiences of war, destruction, and societal collapse in the aftermath of 1945.

The exhibition at the Zentrum Paul Klee is the artist’s first museum retrospective in Switzerland. Some 120 outstanding works from all phases of her career, including the painting Schloss und Reich des Lirad [Castle and Realm of Lirad], rediscovered during the exhibition research after having been forgotten for 56 years, invite visitors to discover an extraordinary artistic personality whose work has lost none of its relevance to this day.

Curator: Martin Waldmeier