Works of Swiss painter Meier on exhibition in Bali

Sat, 03/29/2008 11:13 AM  |  World

Around 70 masterpieces of famous Swiss painter Theo Meier are currently on display at the Pasifika-Museum Pacific Asia in Nusa Dua, Bali.

The retrospective exhibition, which showcases mostly oil paintings from 1929 to 1982 made in Europe, Tahiti, Bali and Thailand, was inaugurated by Swiss Ambassador to Indonesia Bernardino Regazzoni on March 22, 2008. The exhibition will run until April 27, 2008.

"It's a unique painting exhibition. It was an honor for me to open it," Ambassador Regazzoni told The Jakarta Post on Thursday night in Jakarta.

Last year, Regazzoni also attended the launch of the book Theo Meier. A Swiss Artist under the Tropics, written by Didier Hamel and published by Hexart in Jakarta.

Theo Meier was born on March 31, 1908, near Basel, Switzerland. At the age of 20 he got a scholarship to the Basel School for Arts and Craft and tried to make a living by painting portraits.

In 1932, a group known as "The Idiots Club" sponsored the young painter's sea voyage to Tahiti. He returned to Basel in 1934 before traveling to Singapore in 1935, and finally reached Bali in 1936.

In Bali, where he stayed until 1955, Meier found his place in the world and returned to simplicity, purity and nature.

Settling in Sanur, Meier married Made Mulugan, with whom he had a daughter, Leoni.

In 1942, Meier got married a second time with Made Pegi, a famous Balinese model, with whom he also had a daughter, Ani Sugandi.

He succumbed to cancer and died peacefully in hospital at Berne, Switzerland on June 19, 1982. (JP/Veeramalla Anjaiah)

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