Max von Moos

Max von Moos (6 December 1903 – 28 May 1979) was a Swiss painter associated with Surrealism. Active from the 1930s onward, he developed an independent surrealist style and became one of the leading representatives of Surrealism in Switzerland. His work was characterised by recurring motifs including masks and mythological imagery.

Biography Born in Lucerne on 6 December 1903, Max von Moos began drawing and painting while recovering from tuberculosis as a teenager. He studied at the Lucerne School of Applied Arts from 1919 to 1922, where his father, the painter Joseph von Moos, was an important influence on his training.

Returning to Lucerne, von Moos worked as a designer for an advertising firm before teaching at the Lucerne School of Applied Arts from 1933 to 1969. In 1934, he produced his first surrealist works, and in 1936 he became a founding member of Allianz, an association of modern Swiss painters.

Between 1944 and 1947, von Moos was active in the Swiss Party of Labour before withdrawing from politics. He was awarded the City of Lucerne Art Prize in 1966 and died in Lucerne on 28 May 1979.