Press

Philipp Otto Runge made visible what has no form: colour as a body, time as an image, the world as a whole. On 23 July 2027, the Early Romantic artist born in Wolgast will turn 250 years old. His hometown is organizing the anniversary as Rungesommer – from May to October 2027, with the official ceremony on his birthday as the centerpiece. Four exhibition formats, three festival weekends, and original works from Hamburg and Greifswald.

Philipp Otto Runge made visible what has no form: colour as a body, time as an image, the world as a whole. In 2027, his birthplace will continue this work.

He comes from a port city, not a salon: his father was a shipowner and merchant, and he learned silhouette paper-cutting from his mother. That is why in 2027, craftsmanship stands alongside art – and so everything begins where he first looked as a child.

On 2 May, the Rungehaus opens with its new permanent exhibition, offering new perspectives on the life and work of the Early Romantic painter. The former family home provides insights into the complex work of the universal artist and visionary in thematically organized rooms – in the place where 13 Runges once lived at the same time.

23 July 2027, Runge’s 250th birthday, is the cultural highlight of the summer of 2027 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Guests from politics and research, art and culture will speak at the official ceremony in Wolgast. Additionally: spatial art in the rotunda of the St. Gertrude Chapel, a “Dinner at the Runges,” a symphonic ballet in the ship hall at the city harbor, dance and music on Rungeplatz, and the interactive premiere of the Runge comic.

Starting 22 May, the 37th State Art Exhibition of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will showcase 50 contemporary positions. Three festival weekends on Rungeplatz, in the historic old town, and at the city harbor will feature theatre, concerts, hands-on activities for children, puppet theatre and fairy tales, as well as culinary delights, crafts, and a regional market.

Philipp Otto Runge made visible what has no form: colour as a body, time as an image, the world as a whole. In 2027, his birthplace will continue this work.

He comes from a port city, not a salon: his father was a shipowner and merchant, and he learned silhouette paper-cutting from his mother. That is why in 2027, craftsmanship stands alongside art – and so everything begins where he first looked as a child.

On 2 May, the Rungehaus opens with its new permanent exhibition, offering new perspectives on the life and work of the Early Romantic painter. The former family home provides insights into the complex work of the universal artist and visionary in thematically organized rooms – in the place where 13 Runges once lived at the same time.

23 July 2027, Runge’s 250th birthday, is the cultural highlight of the summer of 2027 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Guests from politics and research, art and culture will speak at the official ceremony in Wolgast. Additionally: spatial art in the rotunda of the St. Gertrude Chapel, a “Dinner at the Runges,” a symphonic ballet in the ship hall at the city harbor, dance and music on Rungeplatz, and the interactive premiere of the Runge comic.

Starting 22 May, the 37th State Art Exhibition of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will showcase 50 contemporary positions. Three festival weekends on Rungeplatz, in the historic old town, and at the city harbor will feature theatre, concerts, hands-on activities for children, puppet theatre and fairy tales, as well as culinary delights, crafts, and a regional market.

Philipp Otto Runge was born as the ninth of eleven children to the Wolgast shipowner and merchant Daniel Nicolaus Runge. The port city on the Peenestrom shaped Runge’s childhood and youth. After a commercial apprenticeship in Hamburg, he went to Copenhagen in 1799 and later to Dresden to study art. Eventually, he lived in Hamburg with his wife Pauline and three children. Through his family, he remained connected to Wolgast as a place of home and longing.

Runge painted portraits of unusual directness: the portrait of his parents, the Hülsenbeck Children, several self-portraits. He shows people without posing and children as independent characters, not as small adults. His probably most extensive project, to execute the large-scale “Times” cycle as a Romantic Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), remained unfinished. His theory of colour was published in 1810 under the title “Colour Sphere” and arranged colours in a three-dimensional spherical model for the first time.

Runge put two fairy tales into writing in the Low German language: “The Fisherman and His Wife” and “The Juniper Tree.” Through Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, they reached the Brothers Grimm and were included in their collection.

No other place can tell the story of Runge’s origins like Wolgast. From 1295 to 1625, the Dukes of Pomerania-Wolgast resided here; subsequently, the Renaissance castle became the administrative seat of Swedish Pomerania. Runge only knew the former castle as a ruin. What remains is the ducal crypt under St. Peter’s, the oldest ducal crypt in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

With the anniversary, Wolgast is establishing itself sustainably as a cultural centre in Western Pomerania as well as statewide and nationwide. Runge becomes “our” artist for all citizens of Wolgast.