In collaboration with Stadtgrün Bern and the management of the Schosshalden cemetery, the Robert Walser Centre maintains the grave of the 1943 deceased artist. A new stone with a sentence by Robert Walser was added in 2018 (design: Ewald Trachsel) and a memorial panel was erected next to the grave in 2024 (design: Urs Hungerbühler). It became known in the course of this works that, since 1987, the gravesite included the urn of Karl Walser's deceased wife Hedwig - without it being marked on the gravestone. The photograph (photographer unknown) shows the couple around 1912. The Robert Walser Centre's care of the grave is based on an initiative from Lukas Leuenberger and the generous financial support of Cornelia and Daniel Stettler.

Further information on the Walser family and Karl Walser can be found here.


Biographical information

Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz HLS

Sikart Lexicon

Altstadtleist Biel/Bienne

Wikipedia

Schosshalden cemetery


Estate collections

Neues Museum Biel

Graphic art collection of the Swiss National Library

Kunstmuseum Bern

Stiftung SAPA, Schweizer Archiv der Darstellenden Künste


Literature (selection, chronological order, german)

Claire Badorrek-Hoguth: Der Buchkünstler Karl Walser. Eine Bibliographie. Bad Kissingen: Badorrek 1983.

Bernhard Echte u. Andreas Meier: Die Brüder Karl und Robert Walser: Maler und Dichter. Stäfa: Rothenhäusler 1990.

Philippe Lüscher: Karl Walser in Japan. Katalog zur Ausstellung im Museum Neuhaus, Biel 2008.

Verena Senti-Schmidlin: Wandbilder von Karl Walser. In: Grosses Format. Wandbilder von Karl Walser / Grand art. Œuvres murales de Philippe Robert. Publ. zur Ausstellung, Neues Museum Biel, 9. 11. 2013 bis 2. 2. 2014, S. 6–56.

Dominique Uldry u. Bernhard Echte: »Seltsame Käuze, wir zwei.« Karl und Robert Walser. Nimbus: Wädenswil 2019.

Verena Senti-Schmidlin: Karl Walser: Maler – Grafiker – Bühnenbildner – Raumgestalter. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag 2023.