"Art is not a stopgap, it is a necessity of life."
Pursuing a career as a painter later in life? No, Siegward Sprotte couldn't imagine that even at a young age. "Those splashes of paint, I thought." And yet: At just 15, he was already painting with Heinrich Basedow the Elder on the Havel lakes. From 1931, he studied at the Berlin Art Academy under Emil Orlik and became a master student of Karl Hagemeister. Numerous study trips took him primarily to southern climes. After the war, Siegward Sprotte lived and worked for two years in the Kampen guesthouse of publisher Peter Suhrkamp before moving into his own studio in 1951. Sylt opened up new horizons for him: "I fled from the abundant green of the German landscape – my eyes wanted to see duller tones." For the widely traveled artist, it was also a journey of self-discovery: "I conversed with the elements, with sand, air, and water – and in everything, I heard myself." In 1961, Sprotte moved to the center of Kampen's village and had a former horse stable converted into a studio. In 1977, he moved again to the opposite side of the street, where his widow Cosmea and son Armin now manage his artistic legacy. Upon moving into his first studio in 1951, Siegward Sprotte initiated the "Kampen Studio Talks," which became a permanent institution for five decades. The "Studio Talks" brought together prominent figures from the humanities and natural sciences, musicians, and writers.
Helmut Zernick played an old violin, which Mozart had already played at the court of Maria Theresa. The violinist Igor Ozim and the pianist Hans Priegnitz were present, and theologians Gustav Mensching and Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn, the physicist Pascual Jordan, the philosopher Ernst von Glasersfeld, and many other personalities participated in discussions. Siegward Sprotte achieved international renown with his artistic work, in which he developed a reduced language, "Colored Calligraphy," based on old-masterly painting techniques. His paintings are on display in museums in Washington, San Francisco, Moscow, Lisbon, Shanghai, and elsewhere. He was an honorary member of the Association of Berlin Artists and the Academy of Arts in Rome, and an honorary citizen of the city of Potsdam and the Alta Badia region in the Italian Dolomites. Siegward Sprotte died in Kampen at the age of 91. His rich artistic and philosophical work remains. "Sprotte concentrated on the essentials. His works embody the greatest possible proximity to nature and the greatest possible distance from naturalism," said Christoph Becker, director of the Kunsthaus Zürich. And Manfred Stolpe, chairman of the Sprotte Foundation Potsdam, aptly put it: "Siegward Sprotte uses the tools of the painter and penetrates the environment with the gaze of the philosopher.
Price information
- The Kampen Art and Culture Trail is free of charge. The accompanying booklet, containing a map and all the information about the art trail, is available at the Kampen Tourist Office in the Kaamp-Hüs.
fitness
Bad weather offer
for any weather
for groups
for families
for individual guests
Pets Allowed
suitable for seniors
Foreign languages
- German
Other equipment/furnishings
Parking nearby
Possible ways to pay
- Eintritt frei
Arrival & Parking
- The best way to reach the art steles of the Kampen Art and Culture Trail is on foot.
Car: From the direction of List and Wenningstedt you can reach Kampen via the main road.
Bicycle: The old island railway line provides a north-south connection as a cycling and hiking path. A cycle path runs alongside Braderuper Weg from Keitum/Braderup to Kampen.
On foot: You can reach Kampen from the Westerland/Wenningstedt and List directions both via the beach and along the hiking trail along the former island railway line. From Wenningstedt, a wooden walkway leads through the dunes over the Red Cliff to Kampen. From the Braderup/Keitum direction, you can walk along the heathland paths along the mudflats.
Bus: You can reach Kampen with line 1 from Westerland and List.
To reach the stele, please get off at Kampen Mitte. author
License (master data)
Kampen Tourism Service
