Painting
Sculptures
Works on paper
Graphics
Biography
1927
born on April 7 in Reichenbach im Vogtland
1941-44
Apprenticeship as a lithographer with Carl Werner. First watercolors and prints
1944-45
Conscripted into the mountain troops in Salzburg. Wartime deployment in Slovakia, wounded there. Hospitalized in Prague. Captured by the Red Army. Escape from captivity. Returns home to Reichenbach.
1946-47
Attends the School of Arts and Crafts in Leipzig. Meets Ursula Neustädt.
1947-51
Studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig (with Egon Pruggmayer, Walter Arnold, Elisabeth Voigt, among others)
1951-52
Graphic designer at the Illustrierte Rundschau in Berlin. Member of the Association of German Visual Artists. Marries Ursula Neustädt.
1953
Returns to Leipzig. Freelance graphic artist. Self-taught further training in painting. Mainly creates landscape paintings.
1953-74
Teaching at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, 1953-56 assistant, 1956-65 lecturer, 1965-74 professorship
1965
The Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg Halle is the first museum to acquire a painting by Wolfgang Mattheuer, “Kain” (1965).
1971
Start of work on sculptural works
1974
Resigns from teaching at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, since then works as a freelance artist in Leipzig and Reichenbach. The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the first museum outside the GDR to acquire a painting by Wolfgang Mattheuer, “Alter Genosse am Zaun” (1971).
1975
National Prize of the GDR for Art and Literature; again in 1984
1976
On the initiative of Fritz Cremer, Wolfgang Mattheuer participates in the design of the gallery in the Palace of the Republic in Berlin; the painting “Guten Tag” is created for this purpose. Travels to Amsterdam, Hamburg and Mexico.
1977
First important acquisitions by the collector Peter Ludwig, Aachen. Start of collaboration with Galerie Brusberg, Berlin
1980
Travels to Sweden and through Switzerland. Begins work on the larger-than-life sculpture “Gesicht zeigen” (“Large Masked Man”)
1988
The comprehensive monograph “Wolfgang Mattheuer” by Heinz Schönemann is published. Travels to the USA for the opening of the exhibition at the Prakapas Gallery in New York. Resigns from the SED with a published letter.
1989
Active participation in the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. Publications in the press.
1993
Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of the Arts. Awarded the Cross of Merit I Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Termination of collaboration with Galerie Brusberg, Berlin. Since then represented by Galerie Schwind, Frankfurt am Main/Leipzig.
1999
Purchase of two paintings for the Reichstag building in Berlin
2004
Wolfgang Mattheuer dies in Leipzig on April 7
Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor of the City of Leipzig
2006
Ursula Mattheuer-Neustädt establishes the Ursula Mattheuer-Neustädt and Wolfgang Mattheuer Foundation
2008
The Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main acquires the painting “Koloss II” from 1970 as a donation from a private collection, Frankfurt am Main.
2012
Installation of the unique 5-meter-high “Century Step” in Potsdam in the courtyard of the House of Brandenburg-Prussian History.
2016 final installation in the courtyard of the rebuilt Museum Barberini.
2017
On the occasion of his 90th birthday, the complete catalog raisonné of his paintings is published “Wolfgang Mattheuer – Paintings as a message”.
Exhibitions
Selection from 2011
2011
Beijing, National Museum of China, Art of the Enlightenment (participation) (catalog)
Bochum, Art Museum, IMAGE CONFIDENCE. Studio Jaeschke. Outlook – Review (participation) (catalog)
Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Der geteilte Himmel – Die Sammlung 1945-1968 (participation)
2012
Frankfurt am Main, Galerie Schwind, Wolfgang Mattheuer – Fritz P. Mayer Collection
Berlin, Galerie Schwind, Wolfgang Mattheuer – prints
Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum Extension, Contemporary Art 1945 – today (participation)
Potsdam, Haus der brandenburgisch-preußischen Geschichte, Insight and outlook. Hasso Plattner Collection (Participation)
Weimar, Neues Museum, Farewell to Icarus. Pictorial worlds in the GDR – seen anew (Participation)
2015
Leipzig, Galerie Schwind, In the Spirit of Romanticism (together with Markus Matthias Krüger)
2017
Chemnitz, Art Collection, And the wings move skywards. Wolfgang Mattheuer on his 90th birthday, prints from the Hartmut Koch Collection
Leipzig, Galerie Schwind, Wolfgang Mattheuer. On the occasion of his 90th birthday
Reichenbach, Kunsthalle Vogtland, “Jahrhundertschritt” bronze sculpture, graphic works and posters by Wolfgang Mattheuer on the occasion of his 90th birthday
Jena, Kunstsammlung, Wolfgang Mattheuer – Zum 90. Geburtstag. Sammlung Peter Mathar
Rostock, Kunsthalle, Wolfgang Mattheuer – Bilder als Botschaft(catalog)
Zwolle/Netherlands, Museum de Fundatie, Wolfgang Mattheuer – Retrospectief (catalog)
Potsdam, Museum Barberini, Hinter der Maske – Künstler in der DDR (participation) (catalog)
2018
Schwerin, Staatliches Museum, Hinter dem Horizont … Kunst der DDR aus den Sammlungen des Staatlichen Museums Schwerin
Dresden, Albertinum, East German Painting and Sculpture from 1949-1990
2019
Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Künste, Point of no return
Düsseldorf, Museum Kunstpalast, Utopia and downfall. Art from the GDR
2022-23
Aschaffenburg, Kunsthalle Jesuitenkirche, Unter blauen Himmeln – Markus Matthias Krüger und Wolfgang Mattheuer(catalog)
further venues: Angermuseum Erfurt, Kunsthalle Rostock
Potsdam, Das Minsk, Wolfgang Mattheuer – Der Nachbar, der will fliegen (catalog)
2023-24
Aschaffenburg, Kunsthalle Jesuitenkirche and Erfurt, Angermuseum, Leidenschaftlich figurativ – Die Sammlung Fritz P. Mayer (participation, catalog)
Public collections
Aachen, Ludwig Forum for International Art
Altenburg, Lindenau Museum
Augsburg, Walter Art Museum
Bad Frankenhausen, Panorama Museum
Berlin, German Historical Museum
Berlin, Art Collection of the Berliner Volksbank
Berlin, New Bundestag
Berlin, State Museums – National Gallery
Beeskow, Beeskow Art Archive
Bonn, Foundation House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany
Budapest, Ludwig Museum
Chemnitz, Art Collections
Dresden, State Art Collections, New Masters Gallery
Durbach, Hurrle Collection – Museum of Contemporary Art
Erfurt, Angermuseum
Frankfurt am Main, Art Collection Deutsche Bundesbank
Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum
Frankfurt/Oder, Museum Junge Kunst
Halle/Saale, Moritzburg Foundation, Art Museum of the State of Saxony-Anhalt
Hanover, Sprengel Museum
Cologne, Museum Ludwig
Leipzig, Art Collection of the Sparkasse
Leipzig, Museum of Fine Arts
Leipzig, Fritz P. Mayer Collection – Leipzig School
Leipzig, Museum of City History
Leipzig, Forum of Contemporary History
Magdeburg, Museum of Cultural History
Mannheim, Kunsthalle
Nuremberg, Germanic National Museum
Beijing, Ludwig Museum for International Art
Plauen, Vogtland Museum
Potsdam, Museum Barberini
Potsdam, Collection of the LBS Ostdeutsche Landesbausparkasse AG
Schwerin, State Museum
St. Petersburg, Museum Ludwig in the Russian Museum
Weimar, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Neues Museum and Schloßmuseum
Vienna, Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation
Würzburg, Museum am Dom
News
OH, CASPAR DAVID ..!
19. March 2024
Between Rhine Romanticism and the Leipzig School
19. March 2024
Under blue skies in the Kunsthalle Rostock
12. December 2022
The new Museum Minsk in Potsdam opens with Mattheuer exhibition
24. September 2022
“So close to heaven”
12. August 2022
