Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner’s life was a rollercoaster, a zigzag from one extreme to the other. Illustration by Marco Heer.
Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner’s life was a rollercoaster, a zigzag from one extreme to the other. Illustration by Marco Heer.

Between art and madness

Fleeing his conservative family, Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner was searching for freedom. This search led the poet to Zurich and into the circles of Dadaism.

Katrin Brunner

Katrin Brunner

Katrin Brunner is a self-employed journalist specialising in history and chronicler of Niederweningen.

The time before and during World War I, and up to the beginning of World War II, seems to have been an era of myriad possibilities. Resounding success and disastrous collapse were equally close at hand, and not just on the battlefield or at a political level. Abend Der Tag verklang In einem rosenen Ton. Das Wasser sang sich müde. Es dämmert schon. Im tiefen Park erwacht Leis ein Grauen. Fröstelnd vor der Nacht Stehn steinerne Frauen. Evening The day faded away In a rosy hue. The water sang wearily. It’s already getting light. In the depths of the park Something ugly stirs. Shivering in the night Stone women stand. These lines were written in 1920 by German poet Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner, who was part of the literary scene in Zurich for a while. It is one of his last works, published in his poetry volume Jungfrauen platzen männertoll. It was certainly not the kind of art and literature his father liked. Wagner Senior was a teacher, and a devotee of the bygone imperial age. Growing up in a patriarchal environment, the young Friedrich Wilhelm saw himself constantly thwarted by parental pressure: it was important that he make something decent of himself. He did in fact begin a degree course in economics and philosophy in Munich; however, he pursued his studies only half-heartedly. His true passion lay in writing poems, which he sold to various newspapers but also published in a first volume of poetry.
Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner couldn’t seem to settle anywhere for long. Before he lived in Zurich his stops included Berlin and Paris, among others. In the French capital between 1913 and 1914, Wagner experimented with morphine, hoping to significantly expand his consciousness. In Zurich, the German gravitated towards the circles that would later found the Dadaism movement.
Up to the late 19th century, morphine was a widely used consumer product. Advertisement in the magazine «Jugend», a weekly publication on art and life, 1906.
Up to the late 19th century, morphine was a widely used consumer product. Advertisement in the magazine «Jugend», a weekly publication on art and life, 1906. Wikimedia
In the early 20th century neutral Switzerland was a meeting point, but also a safe haven for scores of European intellectuals. Together with the Café de la Terrasse, the Kaffeehaus Odeon in Zurich, opened in summer 1911, was the ‘place to be’. Musicians such as Franz Léhar, scientists such as Albert Einstein and poets and thinkers such as Hans Arp, Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball were frequent patrons of these two venues. The then 22-year-old Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner heard the call of the liberal-minded Bohemians. He came to Zurich in June 1914, and attached himself to the expressionist art scene from which the Dadaists would later emerge. Wagner wrote, mostly in the Café Astoria, like ‘a man possessed’, as one acquaintance put it. He had brought his drug addiction with him from Paris to Zurich.
The Café Odeon in Zurich.
The Café Odeon in Zurich. Baugeschichtliches Archiv
At the end of July 1914, World War I broke out. Due to his tuberculosis, Friedrich Wilhelm avoided active service. Nevertheless, his days in Switzerland were numbered and he obediently returned to Germany at his father’s behest. In 1918 Friedrich Wilhelm was declared mentally ill as a ‘chronic morphine addict’ and was admitted to the Heilanstalt Eglfing sanatorium near Munich until March 1919. It wasn’t his last stay in a clinic. After two more years of restless roaming and the production of several literary works, of which Irrenhaus (Madhouse), which reflected his experiences but also his fantasies in the mental hospital, became known to a wider audience, Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner returned home, once again under pressure from his father. Heinrich Wagner had already given up any notion that his son would become an academic.
Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner spent several months in the Eglfing sanatorium between 1918 and 1919.
Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner spent several months in the Eglfing sanatorium between 1918 and 1919. Verlag Edition Text u. Kritik
But he could still become a decent public servant. The father found his son a job as a bank clerk. He also made Friedrich Wilhelm promise not to write any more. That was in 1920. It was also the year Friedrich Wilhelm married Minni Cloos. A short-lived marriage which seemed at least to bring some brief joy into the life of the poet, who was still addicted to morphine: …Allen Dingen wieder Lächelnd, gut gesinnt, Schweif ich durch mein Leben, Träumer, Held und Kind… …All things again Smiling, favourably disposed, I amble through my life, Dreamer, hero and child… Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner worked as a bank clerk until his early death in 1931. But, as promised, he never published another poem.

Published on: 18.10.2021

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2021/10/wagner-between-art-and-madness/

More of: 20th / 21st centuryArtLiteratureArticle

Further posts

Charles Dickens the hypnotherapist

Katrin Brunner 20.07.2023 The author of “A Christmas Carol” and “Oliver Twist” was also a keen proponent of mesmerism. A Swiss banker’s wife was a notable beneficiary of his mesmeric talents.
Mesmerism, portrayed in an 18th century graphic print.

Anne Frank and the Basel connection

Andrej Abplanalp 29.06.2022 From Basel and later from Birsfelden, Anne Frank’s father, Otto, worked to ensure that what is probably the most famous diary in history was read all over the world.
Anne Frank wrote what is probably the most famous diary in the world.

The Globi Club

Anna Wälli 11.07.2018 Globi starts out as an advertising character. In the midst of the economic crisis of the 1930s, he’s intended to boost morale. Children quickly take the jaunty bird into their hearts and set up their own Globi clubs.
A Globi club.