Hermann Hesse

(German/Swiss, 1877–1962)

Hermann Hesse was a German-born Swiss author and painter best known for his novels Steppenwolf and Siddartha, both of which explore self-identity and spirituality. In his visual arts career, Hesse did not start painting in earnest until he was 40 years old, and initially viewed it as a therapeutic pastime. His oeuvre largely consists of watercolors of Mediterranean landscapes rendered in a style that combines Impressionism and Expressionism, and he also used his paintings as inspiration for his writing; one such example is Klingsor’s Last Summer (1920). Born on July 2, 1877 in Calw, German Empire, Hesse received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. Today, the majority of his paintings are housed in The Herman Hesse Museum in Montagnola. He died on August 9, 1962 in Montagnola, Switzerland.