The Marion Lichardus-Itten Gift

The renowned prehistorian and archaeologist Marion Lichardus-Itten, daughter of the artist Johannes Itten and his second wife Anneliese, donated ten of her father’s outstanding works to Kunstmuseum Bern in 2024. Eight of the paintings are now being presented to the public for the first time. They cover a period from 1917 to 1964, providing a representative insight into the wide-ranging work of the Swiss painter, art theorist and art educator. 

Johannes Itten is considered a key figure in the development of modern art education and theories of colour and form. He became particularly well-known for his work on colour theory and his teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar, where he worked until 1923. In 1938 he returned to Switzerland and served both as a tutor and director of the Zürich School of Applied Arts until 1954. He spent his childhood in the Bernese Oberland and in Thun. Itten’s daughter Marion was born in Zürich in 1941, the first of three children. She studied prehistory and protohistory, earning her doctorate and subsequently working as a conservator at the Swiss National Museum. Following teaching posts at various universities, Lichardus-Itten became a professor in 1988, serving as such at the Sorbonne in Paris until her retirement in 2006. For many years, she has represented the Itten family alongside her brother Klaus Itten (1944–2023) in the Johannes Itten Foundation, which was founded in 1992 and is associated with Kunstmuseum Bern. She succeeded her brother as president from 2007 to 2024.