The son Heiner Hesse – Rebel. Artist. Pacifist.

Heiner Hesse, the second of Hesse's three sons, had an intense but also contentious relationship with his father, as evidenced by extensive, largely unpublished correspondence.

Heiner Hesse was an interior decorator by trade and worked as a designer and decorator of shop windows and fairs. He also set up masquerade balls for artists, created posters and book covers, illustrated books and participated in national exhibitions.

Ticino became Heiner Hesse's adopted home from 1983. He died at his home, an old mill, on April 7, 2003 at the age of 94.

Throughout his life, Heiner Hesse was committed to helping the politically persecuted and humanitarian aid organizations. Correspondence with his father shows that there was emotional closeness between the two, but also substantial discussions about lifestyle, politics and society. After the death of Hermann Hesse and his third wife Ninon, Heiner Hesse took over the administration of the literary estate with dedication and a great sense of responsibility. Moreover, it is largely thanks to Heiner Hesse that Hermann Hesse is now appreciated worldwide as a painter.

As early as 1992 he had fought with great vigour for the purchase of Casa Camuzzi and the creation of a museum, but his efforts were in vain. Nevertheless, in 1997 he succeeded in founding the Hermann Hesse Museum, which today, 25 years after its opening, has become an important cultural institution, internationally renowned. Till this very day, many of the objects in the Museum's permanent exhibition come from Heiner Hesse's estate.

Currently, Heiner’s son Silver Hesse manages his father's legacy. It is thanks to him and his brothers that letters, rare photographs, watercolours and drawings by Hermann Hesse can be exhibited. A part of the exhibition is dedicated to Heiner Hesse as a person, artist and correspondent of his father, which opens up new perspectives on Hermann Hesse's life.

In addition, during the year, a reading of the correspondence between father and son with professional actors will be organized (in German and Italian).

Curator: Regina Bucher