Reviews
– The Color of Distance —
With great shock and sadness, we learned this week that the former, long-serving Director of the Heidelberger Kunstverein, Professor Hans Gercke, passed away on Monday, September 22, 2025, at the age of 84.
At the head of the institution, the art historian shaped the cultural development of our city for a full 36 years through his highly dedicated and ambitious exhibition activities, as well as through his great humanity.
Hans Gercke was born in Kehl in 1941 and studied art history, archaeology, and musicology in Heidelberg and Padua. He then worked as an editor in the arts section of the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung.
In 1970 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Heidelberger Kunstverein, and in 1980 became its first full-time Director. From the beginning, it was important to him—unlike his predecessors—to also present international art and to introduce new formats, such as performances. Members and audiences alike were challenged, but Gercke succeeded in steadily inspiring the people of Heidelberg with contemporary art.
At the same time, the married father of four was deeply committed to supporting local artists and raising awareness among city representatives and the public of local political issues. With exhibitions designed to provoke debate, he and his team denounced the wave of modernization sweeping through Heidelberg’s Old Town in the 1970s—and achieved visible success.
Unforgettable, too, were the exhibitions Der Baum (“The Tree”) on the subject of forest dieback in 1980, as well as the presentation of the Prinzhorn Collection, which at that time did not yet have a home of its own and only came to broader public awareness through its exhibition at the Kunstverein.
Gercke’s incredibly high workload—reflected in the numerous exhibitions each year, always accompanied by publications, and culminating in the legendary exhibition Blau – Die Farbe der Ferne (“Blue – The Color of Distance”) in 1990—was carried out with openness to ideas, respect, and admirable composure. This is how former colleagues and companions describe him, recalling their intensive collaboration with him in preparing this internationally acclaimed exhibition and its catalogue, which is today considered a classic. Blau also marked the inauguration of the Kunstverein’s new building in the garden of the Kurpfälzisches Museum: a Herculean task.
Even before his departure as Director of the Kunstverein in 2006, Hans Gercke had been awarded an honorary professorship at the Heidelberg University of Education, where he continued teaching until just a few years ago. He remained a sought-after curator, speaker, and author. His scholarly and stylistically excellent texts—written in his old townhouse on Werderstraße, always drawing from his vast private library—also form part of his legacy.
The former Director of the Heidelberger Kunstverein was, in every respect, an exceptional figure: his knowledge, his dedication, his creativity, and his work ethic were always accompanied by integrity and humility. This is how we—the Board, the Advisory Council, the team, and surely also many members of the HDKV—will remember him, honoring his memory with deep respect.
Dr. Julia Behrens, Spokesperson of the Advisory Council