Günter Fruhtrunk (1923-1982) created a distinctive and outstanding body of work with his geometric-abstract and non-representational paintings. His medium is color, which he aims to free from any ‘external determination,’ stripping it of all culturally inherited or individual meanings. His visual language seeks to activate the act of seeing, aiming for a state that Fruhtrunk himself described as ‘freedom of seeing.’ This Enlightenment impulse is combined in his work with high painterly sensitivity and quality. His painting thus proves to be one of the most enduring and inspiring positions in German post-war art.

Fruhtrunk participated in documenta IV in 1968 and the Venice Biennale. In 1993, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin honored his work with a major retrospective, which was also shown at the Landesmuseum Münster, the Bavarian State Painting Collections, and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich. From 1967 to 1982, Günter Fruhtrunk was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

Among the most recent museum highlights is the comprehensive retrospective for his 100th birthday, which was shown in 2023 at the Kunstmuseum Bonn and continued in 2024 at the Museum Wiesbaden. This exhibition featured around 60 works from all phases of the artist’s career and highlights the development of his work in three major sections: from the early works of the 1950s, through the striped paintings of the 1960s, to the works of the 1970s and early 1980s. Another important exhibition, “The Paris Years (1954–1967),” was shown at the Lenbachhaus Munich also in 2024.

education

1954-56
Studied under Fernand Léger and Jean Arp Paris
1945-50
Studied architecture and painting at Munich Technical University

awards

public collections

Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Kunstsammlung Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main
Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg
Neue Galerie, Kassel
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Hamburger Kunsthalle
Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden

ausgewählte einzelausstellungen

2024
Günter Fruhtrunk. Retrospektive 1952–1982, Kunstmuseum Bonn; anschließend Museum Wiesbaden
2023
Günter Fruhtrunk. Retrospektive 1952–1982, Kunstmuseum Bonn; anschließend Museum Wiesbaden
Günter Fruhtrunk. Die Pariser Jahre (1954–1967), Lenbachhaus, Munich
2019
Günter Fruhtrunk. Aus der Reihe, Kubus der Situation Kunst, Bochum
Günter Fruhtrunk – Sammlung Maximilian und Agathe Weishaupt, Kunstmuseum Ahlen
2013
Günter Fruhtrunk: La peinture vivante, Cambrai Museum, Cambrai
2012
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
2010
Ein konkreter Maler, Lorenzelli Arte, Mailand
1993
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
1973
Fruhtrunk – Bilder: 1952–1972, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
1969
Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover
1964
Wilhelm-Morgner-Haus, Soest
1963
Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund

selected group exhibitions

1973
21. Jahresausstellung des Deutschen Künstlerbundes, Berlin
1970
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Jetzt – ein Signal unserer Zeit, Kunsthalle Cologne
1965
The Responsive Eye, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1968
34. Biennale Venice
documenta IV, Kassel