Jörg Immendorff
A major retrospective of Jörg Immendorff’s work will be on display at the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf from 25 September 2026. Düsseldorf was his adopted home; it was here that he studied, taught, lived and worked. Our publishing house has produced several high-quality editions in collaboration with Immendorff, which we are presenting to you, alongside further prints, in our gallery in the heart of Düsseldorf to mark this occasion.
Jörg Immendorff (1945–2007) was already a striking artist before the term ‘Neue Wilde’ came into use in the 1980s. He was a prominent figure in Düsseldorf, both as an artist and as a bon vivant. In his case, this meant that he enjoyed throwing parties and was generous, whilst at the same time developing a new form of figurative painting that stood in stark contrast to the previously dominant abstract art of the Zero Group or the Informels. As a former student of Joseph Beuys, he had been a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy himself since 1996. His international reputation is evidenced by the fact that, a year later, he received the ‘Premio Marco’ – the world’s most highly endowed art prize – for his art, which was characterised by symbolic and political allusions.
He grappled extensively with the division of Germany in his works. Following reunification, he turned his attention to other themes and created a figure with whom people could identify in the form of his ‘Maleraffen’. Despite being diagnosed with the neurological disease ALS in 1997, his artistic drive and zest for life never waned. In his final years, he was only able to produce his works with the help of his team, but:
‘I write the music; I am the composer and the conductor.’ - Jörg Immendorff
