Over this past week, Matthew von Schlippe has heard fond and funny reminiscences about his late grandfather, the eminent artist Alexey von Schlippe. One such tale: when professor Stephen Jones was new to the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus and was moving into his office, he heard someone whistling an opera aria. The whistling continued to an impressive degree, and Jones felt compelled to find its source. He discovered von Schlippe — who had studied opera in Italy, long before he became an art professor at Avery Point — on the floor of his office, preparing slides for his next lecture.

Jones was just one of the friends and colleagues that Matthew has interviewed, and Matthew says the image they have created of Alexey is of “this life-loving extrovert” who had a great productive drive to create art.

Matthew, who lives in Germany, is in the midst of a brief visit to Connecticut. During his stay, he wanted to record the aforementioned interviews so the recollections could accompany an exhibition of Alexey’s work that he is hoping to initiate in Germany. And Matthew also wanted to visit the Avery Point gallery named after his grandfather that UConn is targeting for closure this summer.

UConn officials have said they are planning on shutting down the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art and eliminating the position of gallery director as a fallout of state budget cuts, although gallery co-founder David Madacsi is among those still fighting to keep it open.

Whatever happens, the gallery organized a recent exhibition called “For the Love of Alexey” that showcased 50 of von Schlippe’s works that have been on long-term loan from his family to the gallery. The show was in honor of what would have been his 100th birthday and what is the 24th year of the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art.

The idea of shipping Alexey’s paintings back to his family in Germany when the gallery closes, Matthew says, feels “almost like taking away a piece of Alexey from his friends here.”

Matthew von Schlippe — who is 29 and was just a toddler when his grandfather died in 1988 — said that, when he heard the gallery might be shuttered, he wanted to have a document about the place and about co-founder and director Julia Pavone’s work. That blossomed into an idea of organizing an exhibition of Alexey’s work in Germany with the paintings the family has there. Matthew envisioned interviewing Connecticut residents who knew Alexey and creating a video piece to accompany that exhibition. He also pictured it raising awareness about the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art here.

He attended the Feb. 19 closing reception of “For the Love of Alexey” in Groton last week, and he heard from many people who knew Alexey.

“The most important idea I took away from that reception here was, my gosh, here are so many people here who knew and valued my grandfather,” Matthew says.

A little about that grandfather: Alexey von Schlippe was born in Moscow in 1915 to the family of a minister in Czar Nicholas II’s court. The von Schlippes fled from the Russian Revolution and eventually settled in Germany. Alexey considered becoming an opera singer or an actor but ultimately chose to be an artist. He came to America — to Wisconsin and then, in 1954, to Connecticut. He taught at Norwich Free Academy (as did his wife, Xenia), and he became the first full-time professor at UConn’s Avery Point campus. When he died, he left behind a trove of paintings.

Madasci, a physics professor at Avery Point who was a friend of von Schlippe’s, developed the idea of establishing a gallery in his memory. The von Schlippes agreed the gallery could keep on loan the 500 paintings that Alexey had left at Avery Point. So, in 1992, Madasci and Pavone, who was an adjunct art professor at the time, founded the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art. The von Schlippe paintings — mostly large-scale works that are representational but use elements of abstraction and surrealism as well — have been displayed in exhibitions at the site, along with shows featuring works by regional, national and international artists.

Alexey was quite prolific, and the von Schlippes in Germany have many pieces of his artwork, too. The family house south of Munich has walls that are “plastered with paintings,” Matthew says.

“My mother’s psychotherapy (practice) also features about 15 paintings. She’s a very good psychotherapist, but patients also come to her because of the paintings,” he says with a laugh.

Matthew hasn’t become a painter like his grandfather. Rather, he had hoped to go to med school but, when he didn’t get in at first, he became a sound engineer and a musician. He studied at an arts academy in Berlin. As a sound engineer, he started working on orchestras’ recordings before seguing more into pop music and then live sound design. Now, though, he has returned to his first planned career path and is a med school student.

His recent visit is only the second time he has been to the von Schlippe gallery in Groton, the first being when he was 10 years old.

As for the idea of creating an exhibition in Germany, Matthew says, “We want to give Alexey’s work to the people so they can see it and appreciate it.”