Known all over the world for his plays and his detective novels, Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990) also produced paintings and drawings throughout his life. Although he kept his passion for art to himself during his lifetime, he still considered it essential: artwork complemented his writing and they both enabled him to express his, mainly visual, imagination.
© CDN/Swiss Confederation
In his ‘dramatic’ paintings, Friedrich Dürrenmatt often reinterprets motifs from mythology or religion.
For quite some time, Dürrenmatt’s art, in which he had indulged already at a very young age, remained unknown to the public. It was mainly after the creation of the Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel (CDN) in 2000 that his pictorial work was discovered by the general public.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt produced around 1,700 works, mainly ink, felt-tip pen and pen drawings, but also gouaches, lithographs, collages and murals. The CDN collection comprises around 1,000 original works and several sketchbooks.
Last modification 24.11.2025
