The city of Gera is presenting a comprehensive exhibition titled "Back in Town" to commemorate the 100th birthday of Karl Weschke, an internationally acclaimed artist who became famous in England but remains largely unknown in his native Germany. The exhibition, running until mid-February 2026, is displayed at both the Orangerie and the Gera City Museum, showcasing how Weschke transformed from a street child in Gera to an internationally celebrated artist.

While Weschke's works hang in Britain's most prestigious museums, including the Tate Gallery and Hayward Gallery in London, the Thuringian-born painter is barely recognized in Germany despite being one of the most significant German artists of the post-war period. After World War II, Weschke found his true home in Great Britain, where he established his reputation and artistic legacy.

Weschke was born in 1925 in Gera and grew up in extreme poverty. According to Holger Saupe, head of the Gera Art Collection and exhibition curator who knew Weschke personally, the artist once described his childhood by saying "his mother was a prostitute and he was a street kid from Gera." For young Karl, the rise of National Socialism opened up a new world where he was no longer stigmatized as a poor street child but was accepted as an equal in the Hitler Youth.

This acceptance led Weschke to become a fervent supporter of fascist ideology, and he later served as a soldier in the elite paratrooper unit. He was constantly driven by ambition to leave behind the difficult circumstances of his childhood. However, Germany's defeat in the war changed everything for the young man.

In 1945, Weschke was captured by British forces and spent several years in so-called re-education camps. "There they organized elections to show through practical examples how democracy works," explained curator Saupe. During his imprisonment, Weschke also had the opportunity to explore his artistic talents. He was allowed to attend art history courses in Cambridge and privately befriended the renowned artist Francis Bacon.

In the early 1960s, Weschke made Cornwall, in the far west of England, his permanent home. He established a studio directly on the Atlantic coast, in a landscape battered by wind and storms. This dramatic scenery profoundly influenced his art in the following years. In 1967, he painted the oil painting "Breaking Waves," which is now featured in the Gera exhibition.

Classic wave motifs and the color blue are notably absent from this work. Instead, viewers initially see associations with brown, rusty pipes. "That's the wave surge," Saupe explains, "when the wave breaks – it's like physical violence coming at you! Like tubes that you can hardly overcome." This powerful, almost industrial interpretation of natural forces became characteristic of Weschke's unique artistic vision.

Besides seascapes, Weschke initially painted many nude studies. Perhaps this focus reflected the significant role women played in his life – he fathered five children with four different women. The exhibition features a large-format painting of a woman lying on her stomach on a beach, her figure recognizable in silhouette against the backdrop of steep cliffs. "Weschke paints nakedness itself. The elemental nature of nudity," describes curator Saupe. "The erotic body is characterized by sensuality in a certain way – but it can also be a stone cliff. This ambivalence is always visible in Weschke's work."

Many of Weschke's early works are rendered in dark earth tones, but this changed significantly over time. Several trips to Egypt brought light into his art, a transformation that the exhibition clearly demonstrates. According to collection director Saupe, Egypt was an awakening for the painter, introducing new colors and luminosity to his previously somber palette.

Saupe organized a major retrospective of this former "Gera street kid" about 25 years ago, shortly before Weschke's death. Now, he believes it's time again to provide this exceptional painter with Thuringian roots the grand stage he deserves. The exhibition offers visitors a unique opportunity to discover and appreciate an artist who achieved international recognition abroad while remaining virtually unknown in his homeland.

The "Karl Weschke. Back in Town" special exhibition celebrating his 100th birthday runs from October 26, 2025, to February 15, 2026, at the Gera Art Collection/Orangerie and Gera City Museum, providing art enthusiasts with a rare chance to explore the complete artistic journey of this remarkable German expatriate artist.