Contemporary Fine Arts Basel presents Norbert Schwontkowski: Der Erfinder der Tricolore, the first exhibition of the artist’s work (1949–2013) in its Basel space. The gallery has represented him since 2004 and manages his estate. Long recognized as an influential “painter’s painter,” Schwontkowski initially favored earthy, subdued tones, later introducing brighter colors. He often used inexpensive materials mixed with linseed oil and metal oxides, deliberately incorporating chance through chemical reactions. His wet-on-wet landscapes yield stage-like “dreamscapes” that merge the fantastical and everyday, with recurring motifs of hotels, stations, ships, and abandoned places evoking wanderlust, liminality, and transience, tempered by lightness and laconic humor. The show features 14 paintings from private Swiss and German collections spanning his career, including the 2009 title work (previously in the 2013 Kunstverein Hamburg exhibition) and United (2004). Raised in a Catholic family in Bremen, he taught in Braunschweig (1991–2001) and Hamburg (2005–2009) and was the subject of numerous institutional retrospectives.
Norbert Schwontkowski: Der Erfinder der Tricolore / Contemporary Fine Arts Basel. Basel (Switzerland), October 30, 2026.
