Woman with waving hair, 2021

Heinz Rabbow  

"You see it in the eyes"

Heinz Rabbow paints pictures of people over and again. They look like real portraits, but they arise from his own power of imagination. Their faces look past us but they don't let us look past them. They radiate a gentle calmness, inviting us to pause; they captivate our attention and surprise us with their peculiar human beauty. 

Rabbow is a self-made artist. He never studied his difficult tempera technique, but at the age of 40 he simply began painting. Soon his paintings were on view in important galleries and on international art-fairs. He works long hours, and even if he sees himself  mainly as a craftsman, there is all the same a secret in his work. "Painting is a mystery, one of the inexplicable things on earth".

About Rabbow's work many theoretical considerations have been written. If you ask him, he is very clear: he feels a deep aversion against complicated intellectual theories about art. "Painting is a demanding craft. You must master it to make good paintings". Rabbow paints for his public. He wants the open-minded ones to enjoy and offers them, often with a hidden wink, an aesthetic pleasure.