In December 1926, Kirchner's close friend, Albert Müller, died of typhus along with his wife, Anni Müller. In 1927, Kirchner organized a memorial exhibition for Albert Müller at the Kunsthalle Basel. There was a major exhibition of Kirchner's work at the schoolhouse in Davos; the reviews were positive. Kirchner continued to work in Frauenkirch, his style growing increasingly abstract. In 1929,  Kirchner was forced to distance himself from Rot-Blau after they pledged allegiance to him, which upset Kirchner greatly. He addressed them in "An open letter to the Basle Red-Blue group" in No. 5 of "Das Kunstbaltt", where stated that he was not their patron. In the same year, Kirchner visited Zurich, Berlin, and Essen. He was also visited in Frauenkirch by the painter Fritz Winter. In 1930, Kirchner began to experience health problems due to smoking and in 1931 Erna had to undergo surgery in Berlin due to a suspected growth. In 1931, he was made a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. As the Nazi party took power in Germany, it became impossible for Kirchner to sell his paintings. In 1937, he was forced to resign from the Prussian Academy of Arts. Kirchner became increasingly disturbed by the situation in Germany, writing: "Here we have been hearing terrible rumours about torture of the Jews, but it’s all surely untrue. I’m a little tired and sad about the situation up there. There is a war in the air. In the museums, the hard-won cultural achievements of the last 20 years are being destroyed, and yet the reason why we founded the Brücke was to encourage truly German art, made in Germany. And now it is supposed to be un-German. Dear God. It does upset me". In 1934, Kirchner visited Berne and Zurich, finding the former more pleasing than the latter, and met Paul Klee. In the winter of 1935, a new school was being planned to be built in Frauenkirch and Kirchner offered to paint a mural. This project was dropped and instead Kirchner created a sculpture to be placed above the door of the schoolhouse. Reflecting on the inauguration of the schoolhouse in 1936 he writes, "the new school was inaugurated yesterday.