Gotthard Graubner (1930-2013) is one of the outstanding painters of the present day. From the 1960s onwards, Graubner intensively investigated the autonomy of color and opened up a spatial dimension beyond the pictorial space with his early “Farbleibern” and “Kissenbilder” and from 1970 with his likewise object-like “Farbraumkörpern”. “My pictures build up as the light grows and fade with the light; the beginning and end are interchangeable. They do not denote a state, they are a transition. The action of color is the decisive factor.” It makes the imaginary color space just as tangible as it itself unfolds a spatial effect in its corporeality and draws the viewer into the color event.

Numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad are evidence of his international recognition. Graubner participated in documenta 4 and 6 and represented Germany at the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1971 and the Venice Biennale in 1982. In 1988 he created two large-format works for the official residence of the Federal President in Berlin, Bellevue Palace. From 1969-1995 he was Professor of Painting at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts and from 1976-1998 at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art.

Recent major exhibitions include “Katharina Grosse × Gotthard Graubner” at the MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, from 2019 to 2020 and the group exhibition “Durch Raum Und Zeit” at the Kunstmuseum Luzern in 2022.