Neo Rauch

Néo Rauch is a German painter born in 1960 in Leipzig, in the former GDR. He is part of the artistic movement of the “new Leipzig school”. He still lives and works in his hometown.

Néo Rauch grew up in the GDR. He studied painting and art at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig. Influenced by surrealism, Rauch was very early inspired by artists such as René Magritte and Giorgio de Chirico. A figurative artist, he follows in the footsteps of the “Leipzig school” movement. This movement was initiated under the Soviet regime in East Germany by rebel artists. The latter, fierce opponents of communism, painted allegorical and symbolic canvases in which the apparent criticism of Nazism and Fascism was in reality aimed at communism. In order to escape censorship, these emeritus painters reappropriated known historical moments, scenes from cult battles and famous figures from the past. Néo Rauch and other painters perpetuate this tradition, by means of a figurative style mixing industrial landscapes, historical scenes and obvious anachronisms. Painting is a political act.

Néo Rauch was educated in the '80s, and began to experience success in the' 90s, spotted on the European and US stages. At that time, his painting was violent and brutal, like his young age. For 10 years, he painted reproachfully, reinvesting recent German history with anger and passion. In his paintings, we discover devastated industrial decorations, which will never leave Rauch's work, but also vestiges of the Soviet regime. His painting evokes the earlier passage of the Russians and the Communists in East Germany, and the traces they left there. “Men in uniform intimidate men and women from other centuries; battle scenes are present, but their causes are never obvious; the style seems to change arbitrarily, ”according to art historian Charlotte Mullins.

After the 2000s, Néo Rauch softened its cost of brush. He tackles the themes of industry, war and history at the same time, and introduces anachronisms such as computer screens into these landscapes. His work is allegorical. The warm and dark colors contrast with each other for the sake of intensity. Perspectives and scales are deliberately distorted, in order to bring the whole scene to the fore. The artist confides in the process of creation, and reveals that he must enter a daze to be able to paint. Inspiration stems from a trance, from a letting go that leads him to draw from the depths of his being his favorite subjects.

Néo Rauch is a divisive artist. Admired by some, his portrayal of German history is also the subject of fierce criticism. Far from being saddened, the artist claims his raw word.

Néo Rauch has exhibited his work all over the world.