Since 1949, Hans Erni has designed numerous stamps for the PTT on a variety of themes, which often reflected his wide-ranging interests: horses, nature conservation and environmental protection, peacekeeping and human rights, aviation and sports, the Lucerne International Music Festival, and the Lucerne Transport Museum. From time to time, however, he also used the medium of the stamp for self-promotion: For example, for his solo exhibition in 1966 at the Museum zu Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen, he created a postmark featuring a self-portrait and details about the exhibition. In 1979, to mark the opening of the Hans Erni Museum, he created the stamp series “Portraits 1979 – Swiss by Choice,” which features portraits of Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Klee, Thomas Mann, and Hermann Hesse.

It joins the ranks of various series featuring prominent Swiss figures, such as the “Portraits” series from 1972, which included portraits of Alberto Giacometti, Carl Ferdinand Ramuz, Le Corbusier, Albert Einstein, and Arthur Honegger, as well as the poets Conrad Ferdinand Meier and Blaise Cendras and the artists Angelika Kauffmann and Frank Buchser in 1990. Erni later said of these portrait series: “…it is truly something very special that I, of all people, was allowed to design so many portrait stamps. I knew some of these artists—painters, musicians, and writers—personally; I knew one or two of them very well indeed. I spoke with them, discussed things with them—sometimes for hours on end—and even collaborated with them. They were close acquaintances or friends who accompanied me for a time and certainly left their mark on me.” Erni felt a close connection to the work of the poet Hermann Hesse, as Hesse consistently advocated for the personal freedom and responsibility of the individual—a principle that Erni also held dear. In addition, in 1963, Erni was commissioned to create the illustrations for an edition of Hesse’s *Siddhartha* in the series “La Collection des Prix Nobel de Litterature.”

Building on this connection between the artist and the poet, the Hans Erni Museum will present an exhibition in 2027—marking the 150th anniversary of Hesse’s birth—focusing on Hermann Hesse’s friendships with artists and composers such as Cuno Amiet, Louis Moilliet, and Othmar Schoeck.