Artist’s century

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Self-portrait, 1929 (Picture: Hans Erni Museum)

National exhibition picture - "Switzerland, a holiday destination for all peoples", 1939 Because of its size, the 90-metre long and five-metre high work, made up of 136 panels, was a major attraction at the exhibition in Zurich.

National exhibition picture - "Switzerland, a holiday destination for all peoples", 1939 Photographs of the day document how the Erni picture was exhibited.

National exhibition picture - "Switzerland, the holiday destination for all peoples", 1939 The picture at night.

Panta Rhei (everything is in a state of flux), 1935 (Picture: Hans Erni Museum)

Picture with coils and a rope, 1933 Oil on canvas. (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Poster for the Hyspa health and sport exhibition (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Boutilimit (Mauritania), 1950 Watercolour on paper, Museum of Ethnography, Neuchâtel. (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Nuclear war - no thank you, 1954 Poster

Albert Einstein, 1957 Tempera on paper.

Country festivity, 1960 Oil on canvas. (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Save our water, 1961 Poster

The press, 1963 Tempera on paper. (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Breastfeeding woman in Valais, lithography, 1967 (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Tribute to Carl Spitteler, 1975 A mosaic for the Lucerne crematorium.

The tree of awareness, 1978 Acrylic on woodfibre board. (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Mstislav Rostropovitch, 1981 Pastel pencil on paper. (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Minotaur, 1984 Bronze sculpture (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Ploughing the rice paddy, 1986 Acrylic on Pavatex. (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Anthropomorphic alphabet, 1996 Tempera on plywood (Picture: Jacques D. Rouiller)

Clean Energy, 1999 Acrylic on plywood. (Picture: Hans Erni Museum)

Ut omnia exsolvantur, 1964, detail from a mosaic in the entrance hall of swissinfo in Bern. (Picture: Christoph Balsiger, swissinfo) swissinfo.ch

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A look back on the work of Swiss artist Hans Erni.

Erni celebrates his 100th birthday on February 21. He still works daily at his studio and urges everyone to aim for “constant renewal”. He was never involved in a political party, although he was considered to be close to the communists. His paintings made him a rich man but the art world does not consider him a successful artist… rather a popular one.