About Gerard Wagner (1906-1999)

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Gerard Wagner, 1998

Gerard Wagner was an English painter who lived and worked near the Goetheanum in Dornach. He based his work ethic on Rudolf Steiner’s indications for a new art of painting.

In 1928 Gerard Wagner became Henni Geck’s pupil and throughout the following years based his painting and colour research on the ‘Training Sketches’. Through these he was able to find a key to answering the question of how form comes out of colour. He wrote in the introduction to Animal Metamorphosis, 1972:

Rudolf Steiner formulated the question that is the decisive one for painters of our time: how does form arise out of colour? In his sketches and paintings Rudolf Steiner gave examples of how colour can lead to form, as well as to an experience of the world of formative forces. For this reason the Training Sketches can be regarded as the beginning of a new art of painting, which is in accordance with the development of modern consciousness.

Gerard Wagner’s archive of more than 4’000 paintings, and numerous worksheets of experimental colour research, continue to be a source of inspiration for the painting school. 

Visit the Rudolf Steiner Painting School Gallery to see originals of his work.

For ARCHIVE VISITS contact Caroline Chanter c.chanter@iriscolor.ch 061-702 14 23
Guided tours on 14 June and on 8 November 2025. 
10.30 -12.00 AND 3.00 – 4.30.
Please sign up.

An example of colour metamorphosis by Gerard Wagner

References

Monograph of Gerard Wagner:

 

Elisabeth Koch/ Theodor Willmann/ Gerard Wagner

GERARD WAGNER. DIE KUNST DER FARBE (The Art of Colour), 1980, Verlag Freies Geistesleben 
An English translation by Katherine Rudolph can be found on her website: exploringtheword.com.au

 

Caroline Chanter

GERARD WAGNER 1906-1999. A LIFE WITH COLOUR, 2021, Rudolf Steiner Press. This extensive biography of the painter Gerard Wagner includes many photographs and paintings. It also has indications given by Rudolf Steiner’s towards a new painting impulse.

A LIFE WITH COLOUR – GERARD WAGNER 1906-1999, 2021, Rudolf Steiner Press. 
A Life with Colour is the first complete survey of Gerard Wagner’s biography and his artistic intentions, featuring dozens of illustrations and more than 120 colour plates.
The life and work of Gerard Wagner (1906-1999) were closely aligned to the artistic-spiritual stream connected with the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. He first heard of the Goetheanum – and of its destruction by fire at New Year 1922/23 – whilst still a youth. In 1926, he made his first visit to Dornach, but his intended stay of a week turned into a lifelong sojourn of over 73 years. He found there an active, striving community with which he felt intimately connected.
From the start, Gerard Wagner immersed himself in the various artistic impulses that Rudolf Steiner had instigated. This, together with an intensive study of anthroposophy, formed the basis upon which he forged his own approach to painting. The many years he spent in colour experimentation led him to discover objective principles within the language of colour and form that are an inspiration to many today. His paintings, first shown at the Goetheanum in the early 1940s, were exhibited internationally, most notably at the Menshikov Palace, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia, in 1997.
‘[Wagner’s] whole being bowed before the mystery of colour in a loving, joyful yet serious way, full of devotion and dignity. His life and work itself became a living metaphor of the creative power of colour.’ – Christian Hitsch
‘Caroline Chanter has not only accomplished a great and seminal study that illuminates the life and work of Gerard Wagner, but has done a great service also to the Goetheanum and its School of Spiritual Science.’ – Peter Selg

‘[Gerard Wagner was] a soul which on earth was devoted so selflessly and in such purity to the beings that are revealed… in forms and colours. He helped them to utterance and manifestation in this world of ours.’ – Sergei O. Prokofieff

FROM COLOUR to FORM – Glimpse into Gerard Wagner’s Approach to Rudolf Steiner’s Indications for Painting, 2024, SteinerBooks 

This book offers insight into how Gerard Wagner developed his work on the basis of Rudolf Steiner’s indications for painting. Fundamental color experiments illustrate his methodical approach, while examples of his late work show the living, etheric quality he achieved in his watercolor painting. In appreciation of Rudolf Steiner’s contribution toward the evolution of painting, Wagner wrote the following:

“Whoever attempts to tread this path can come to the conviction that the indications of Rudolf Steiner, if they are sufficiently penetrated and experienced, can lead one to grasp the creative formative forces of color and to create within this life element without harming it. By giving us such pictures of life shaped by color, Rudolf Steiner has set goals for a far future of painting.”

All of Rudolf Steiner’s training sketches for painters (pastel drawings and watercolors) are included in the book, as well as the first English translation of the summaries by Albert Steffen of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on color.

Gerard Wagner’s CV

  • 1906 born in Wiesbaden, Germany
  • 1912 family moved to England
  • 1924-26 Studied painting at St Ives, Cornwall with John Park and at the Royal College of Art, London
  • 1926 moved to Dornach, Switzerland
  • 1928 studied painting with Henni Geck at the Goetheanum, Dornach
  • From about 1930 independent painter, exhibitions world-wide (in 1997 at the Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia)
  • From about 1950 teaching activity in Switzerland, mostly at the Goetheanum, and in Germany and England
  • 1999 died in Arlesheim, Switzerland

Painting workbook:

Elisabeth Wagner-Koch/ Gerard Wagner

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF COLOUR, 1980, Rudolf Steiner Press (out of print in English)