Imi Knoebel German, b. 31-12-1940

Imi Knoebel’s art is resolutely abstract. Born in Dessau in 1940, he first studied at the Werkkunstschule Darmstadt under influences stemming from Bauhaus (Johannes Itten and László Moholy-Nagy), before moving in 1964 to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf where he became a student of Joseph Beuys. Early in his career he worked in black and white, producing “Linienbilder” (line paintings) and countless drawings; one of his defining early works is Raum 19 (1968), a mutable ensemble of geometric forms made of wood and fibreboard.

His work across decades has been marked by a rigorous reduction of form and a devotion to how materials—Masonite, aluminium, plywood, found objects—interact with space and color. In the mid-1970s, color became more central, especially after the death of his friend Blinky Palermo, with works such as 24 Farben – für Blinky (1977). Knoebel often experiments with visibility/concealment, shaped supports, projections, and installations, extending painting into sculptural and architectural realms. A major recent example is his commission for the stained-glass windows at Notre-Dame de Reims, installed between 2011-2015, which brought his abstract vision into a sacred, public space.

Knoebel has exhibited widely, in solo shows and retrospectives across Europe, North America, and elsewhere. His work is in major public and private collections, and his practice continues to push the boundaries of non-representational art: challenging what painting is, what space can be, and how the viewer engages with form and color.