High towering clouds, approaching rain and other weather phenomena are an integral part of the work of painter Jochen Hein. Born in Husum in 1960, trained in Hamburg and now working in the Hanseatic city and on Lake Como, Jochen Hein was a guest at the Museum Kunst der Westküste for the first time in 2016.
Since 2010, the museum has been inviting artists to come to Föhr and Alkersum. These residencies result in exciting works of art that are created in a variety of ways but often seem to communicate with each other. In the exhibition ‘Beyond the Visible - Jochen Hein and Miguel Rothschild’, Hein's works and those of Argentinian artist Miguel Rothschild, who also spent an artist residency on Föhr, engage in a dialogue. But what exactly does the work process of an artist visiting the museum look like? And how can his approach to the island, its nature and its weather perhaps also change our own perspective?
Insights into a conversation between museum director Prof. Dr Ulrike Wolff-Thomsen and Jochen Hein reveal more about his working methods, his time on Föhr and provide a glimpse behind the scenes.
The North Frisian island is a very special place to work. Wolff-Thomsen asks the artist: "What is it about the island that appeals to you, this space between sea and land and yet not mainland?" Hein is impressed by his first visit to the island and is particularly fascinated by the unspoilt nature. Föhr reminds him "to put it bluntly [of] North Frisia 50 years ago", where "the encounter with the high sky is really there." The open landscape inspired him and provided the impetus for several works focussing on the ‘sky’.
The sky and its constantly changing clouds also form a central motif of the exhibition. However, it is these in particular that present a challenge. Hein describes the clouds, which are often vague and unclear, as a genuine "non-subject" that is difficult to capture. But it is precisely this process, which "gives form to shapelessness", that appeals to the artist. He tries ‘to find a kind of meaning in all these manifestations of nature [...] so that it is not in vain, that it must have an impact."
This effect, which brings us as viewers into contact with the works, is reflected in the title of the exhibition. "Beyond the Visible" signals how far more than just our visual sense is addressed, which would "take us no further or deeper than the surface", according to Hein. For that can ‘only be penetrated with mental effort [...]. What we see and process takes place in the brain behind the eyes." Accordingly, a central theme in Hein's work is "our own perception in relation to the world."
It is precisely this subject matter that one encounters when visiting the exhibition, because looking at the works creates "this feeling of familiarity", as Wolff-Thomsen notes. For although Hein's paintings "are not pictures that depict nature one-to-one, but [...] natural spaces that were created in [his] studio", they awaken something familiar in us, especially in direct contact with nature and the island's weather phenomena. "When that happens," says Hein, "when it works like that, when people say I know that - then of course I feel confirmed in a wonderful way that I have created something. To grasp something that is not only meaningful to me in this way, but also appeals to someone else."
Another motif with which Hein achieves this connection, and which can be particularly experienced on Föhr, is the sea. For Hein, it is "that which is bigger than ourselves. It spans the whole world and has its changing aggregate states everywhere, is exciting everywhere and yet you encounter the same impressions everywhere too. In other words, it has universal aspects that also appeal to people universally and the need to get in touch with something greater than oneself."
This monumentality and the feeling of the sublime run through Hein's works. Wolff-Thomsen asks about the intention behind it: "Did you consciously write that into your works or is it in the nature of things?" It is definitely a question of composition, says Hein, you have to know "how to build it formally, but then you have to fill it with life and then it has to touch people somehow." Like the sky full of clouds or the sea spray that seems so familiar to us.
Wolff-Thomsen also describes ‘the rapidly emerging and constant changes in the weather, the ever-changing cloud formations’ or ‘a heavy weather front’ that is approaching or is already causing a storm. In this way, the exhibition and Hein's work also focus on what people on the coast and on the islands are very familiar with. Hein knows: "For a North Frisian, that's probably what you notice the most and what you are most likely to avoid." But he also draws attention to the big part that a rain shower plays in our lives: "My whole life, as far as I can remember, from the age of four until today, I've always been amazed at how a rain shower comes towards you and passes over you. If you then take the time to give it space and recognise it, it's incredibly exciting."
The familiar motifs of sky and clouds, the sea and a sudden downpour thus run through both Jochen Hein's oeuvre and that of Miguel Rothschild. They illustrate how works that were created in connection with the artist-in-residence programme on Föhr, but also independently of it, enter into a dialogue with each other and thus open up new perspectives for us as beholders. They encourage us to (re)discover new and familiar things in our environment, in nature and in the weather phenomena that constantly accompany our lives. And perhaps they also change our view of a familiar place where we live or go on holiday to, which suddenly appears in new facets.
If you would like to find out more about Jochen Hein's works and gain an insight into the work of Miguel Rothschild, please explore our "MKdW on tour" app and the audio tour accompanying the exhibition.
The exhibition "Beyond the Visible – Jochen Hein and Miguel Rothschild" is on display at the Museum Kunst der Westküste until 11 January 2026.
Images from the top to the bottom:
Jochen Hein, Brandung, 2023, Courtesy of the Artist
Jochen Hein, Hoher Himmel, 2023, © Museum Kunst der Westküste, Photo: Lukas Spörl
Jochen Hein, Expecting Rain, 2023, Courtesy of the Artist