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Open: Tue-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-5pm

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Artist: Walter Grab

With Walter Grab (1927–1989) – Zurich Surrealist, Galerie Peter Kilchmann presents its first exhibition dedicated to one of the most remarkable yet relatively little-known representatives of Swiss Surrealism. The solo presentation constitutes a deliberate contribution to establishing the position of an artist whose work occupies a distinctive and significant place within the history of Swiss art, yet has remained largely unknown, particularly beyond Switzerland, to this day.

Over the course of several decades, Walter Grab developed a body of work characterised by poetic imagery, enigmatic symbolism, and a distinctive interplay between reality and imagination. His paintings draw viewers into pictorial worlds in which dreams, memory, and fantasy merge into a personal artistic language. In doing so, Grab developed an independent approach to Surrealism that emancipated itself from its major international precedents and gave rise to a distinctive artistic voice. The exhibition brings together around 30 paintings dating from the 1950s through the 1980s, providing a comprehensive insight into the artist’s practice over more than three decades. Most of the works on view are held in Swiss private collections and are only occasionally accessible to the public. The exhibition thus offers a rare opportunity to discover a significant part of Walter Grab’s oeuvre in a focused presentation.

With Walter Grab (1927–1989) – Zurich Surrealist, our aim is to provide a renewed platform for an important yet now insufficiently recognised voice within Swiss Surrealism and to bring his work to a wider audience. At a time when questions of subjective perception, dreams, memory, and alternative realities are once again gaining prominence in contemporary art, Walter Grab’s practice appears remarkably relevant.

In 2022, a comprehensive catalogue of works was published, featuring texts by Julia Schallberger, Christoph Kappeler and André Grab (ed.), Walter Grab (1927–1989). The catalogue was published by Edition Patrick Frey.

all images © the gallery and the artist(s)