When can the exhibition be visited?

The exhibition can be seen from June 12, 2026, to April 11, 2027. The GRIMMWELT Kassel is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM and closed on Mondays.

What is the admission fee for the exhibition?

The admission fee is stated to be 5 Euros, reduced 3 Euros.

Are there offerings for children and families?

Yes. A riddle trail for children and interactive elements invite families to engage actively with Helga Gebert's work.

What themes does the exhibition address?

The exhibition explores the interplay of word and image, the retelling of fairy tales, and the biographical and social aspects of Helga Gebert's work.

Is the GRIMMWELT Kassel accessible for people with disabilities?

The GRIMMWELT is designated as suitable for wheelchair users, people with mobility impairments, as well as blind and visually impaired individuals. For precise accessibility information, it is recommended to directly inquire with the museum.

What is the address of the GRIMMWELT Kassel?

The GRIMMWELT Kassel is located at Weinbergstraße 21, 34117 Kassel.

Discovering Helga Gebert's Fairy Tale Worlds: An Exhibition Between Image, Word, and Imagination

Name: Between Shapes | Helga Gebert
Start: 2026-10-29T10:00:00+01:00
End: 2027-04-11T18:00:00+02:00
Location: GRIMMWELT Kassel

Between Shapes: Helga Gebert's Narrative Image Worlds in the GRIMMWELT Kassel

The exhibition BETWEEN SHAPES at the GRIMMWELT Kassel focuses on the fascinating interplay between word and image. Helga Gebert, author and illustrator, opens spaces between traditional fairy tales, her own imagination, and contemporary visual language. Her illustrations do not simply serve as an addition to a text but stand as independent forms of retelling, recounting, and newly telling.

Where Stories Change Their Form

The central question is how images shape stories. Gebert's work makes it clear that narratives gain new perspectives in every illustration. Familiar motifs from the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and from One Thousand and One Nights encounter a poetic, distinctive, and often humorous visual world. The exhibition invites visitors to look at characters, scenes, and meanings anew with a sharpened perspective.

Helga Gebert and the Renewal of Children's and Young Adult Literature

Helga Gebert, born in 1935 in Freiburg im Breisgau, is one of the defining artists of German children's and young adult literature of the 1970s and 1980s. As an illustrator, author, and translator, she worked closely with the publisher Beltz & Gelberg. Her fairy tale books combine fine pen drawings, watercolors, and detailed painting techniques with a deep understanding of international narrative traditions.

The exhibition situates Gebert's work within the art-historical development of modern children's book illustration. It becomes evident that she did not merely illustrate traditional materials but transformed them into independent aesthetic image spaces. Her works remain open to ambivalence, imagination, and the unexpected.

Aesthetic Experience Between Line, Color, and Imagination

The exhibition atmosphere thrives on the proximity to Gebert's character worlds. Lines lead through fairy-tale realms, forms allow bodies and beings to float between familiar and foreign, while colors create emotional tensions. The contemplation of her work opens a sensual access to materials, image rhythm, and composition.

Biographical insights, references to Gebert's sources of inspiration, and her social engagement expand the presentation. Interactive elements and a riddle trail for children promote cultural education and make the art experience accessible to families as well as adult art enthusiasts. An exhibition catalog deepens the scientific and art-historical discussion.

Fairy Tales as Living Cultural Communication

BETWEEN SHAPES understands stories as living forms of cultural communication. The presentation shows how fairy tales change their meanings through new images and how cultural influences, hierarchies, and forms of appropriation are inscribed in them. Comparative views on works by other artists sharpen the eye for different image decisions and narrative attitudes.

The GRIMMWELT Kassel connects exhibition, literature mediation, and museum education. The institution places the works in dialogue with the Grimm collection and makes the development of narrative materials across times and cultures tangible.

Conclusion: An Art Experience for Adults and Children

Visitors can expect an inspiring exhibition about the power of illustration, the poetic precision of Helga Gebert's visual language, and the ongoing adaptability of fairy tales. Those who want to experience how new narrative spaces arise from word, line, and color should visit the exhibition live. The aesthetic experience in the GRIMMWELT Kassel combines art-historical knowledge, cultural education, and imaginative discovery.