Archives

The painter’s son, Dr. Robert Purrmann, and his niece Heidi Vollmoeller, an antique trader from Zurich, built up the archives and rendered excellent services for Purrmann’s remembrance.They had interviewed the painter about his work since 1950 and collected a wide range of material and information about his life and work in Starnberg. Until Robert Purrmann’s death almost the whole painter’s oeuvre had been documented. All paintings, water colours, drawings, and sculptures that were known to them had been photographed, many questions regarding dating and provenance been solved and references of exhibitions and literature been registered in the files of the works.

The Hans Purrmann Archives in Munich contain many autographs of the painter, many letters written to the artist, several photos of different life periods and of his family, as well as press articles and a library on Purrmann and his environment. Original works by Hans Purrmann are not part of the archives.

The documentation set up by Robert Purrmann and Heidi Vollmoeller has – after the death of Mechtild Purrmann – been continued and maintained in Munich since 2008. It formed the basis for the research for the catalogue raisonnés of the paintings (published in 2004), watercolors and gouaches (2008) and drawings (2014).

The extensive collection of letters, photographs, newspapers and literature will continue to be gradually catalogued and supplemented. Since 2011, the “Edition Purrmann Briefe” has been published from this fund: the correspondence with Hermann Hesse (2011), with childhood friend Wilhelm Wittmann (2013), with wife Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann (2019/2020), and with art critic Karl Scheffler (2021).

The archives help museums, art traders and private collectors with questions about Purrmann’s life and work and questions regarding the attribution; expert’s opinions can be ordered. The archives assist in exhibitions on Hans Purrmann and his Circle. The archives also assist you with publications and scientific research.