Hermann Hesse on the terrace of Casa Camuzzi , 1929 · © Hermann Hesse-Editionsarchiv, Offenbach am Main
Temporary exhibition
22 May 2022 - 5 February 2023 · Museo Hermann Hesse Montagnola
«I am not Siddhartha, but I am only still searching for him»
(Hermann Hesse, approx. 1922)
The year 2022 marks the centenary of the first publication of Siddhartha - an Indian poem by Hermann Hesse, one of his most important and most widely read works worldwide, which has contributed significantly to his fame as a poet and writer to this day. Here, Hesse described in 'Indian guise' his own journey to search for higher dimensional wisdom and religiosity. This was ultimately the reason for the book's worldwide success.
The exhibition addresses the biographical, but also Indian and Chinese influences that were the prerequisite for the creation of the story: his origins from a family of missionaries in India, his studies of Indian philosophy and Buddhism, a trip to "Southeast Asia", his experiments in asceticism and yoga, as well as his discovery of Lao Tse, but also the application of psychoanalysis. Hesse followed the slow but steady reception of Siddhartha in Europe, India and the world and in his old age he experienced the joy of seeing his book translated into numerous Indian languages, thus "coming home" to the country where his grandfather Hermann Gundert is still honoured as a language mediator and scholar. Hesse didn’t get to witness the very special success that this work had since the mid-1960s in the United States, where millions of copies of Siddhartha were published, inspiring not only hippies but also the middle class.
Curators: Eva Zimmermann and Regina Bucher
Feedback from Prof. Dr. Karl-Josef Kuschel (University professor, author, researcher, President of the Internationale Hermann Hesse Gesellschaft): "This exhibition shows the maximum and the optimum of content and visualization of the subject! A big compliment to the curators!".
Vernissage: Sunday, 22 May 2022, 10.30
With the support of: Municipality of Collina d'Oro, Repubblica e Cantone Ticino DECS-SWISSLOS, Hermann Hesse-Stiftung Bern, Fondazione Ing.Pasquale Lucchini, Geschwister Kahl Stiftung