Paul Wunderlich

Paul Wunderlich was born in the German city of Eberswalde in 1927. He trained at the Hamburg School of Art, and his artistic reputation soon spread beyond Germany's borders. Today Wunderlich is a universally admired figure among international critics, who follow his appearances at the most important galleries and art centres with great interest.

Considered one of the most individual figures in contemporary European art, Paul Wunderlich's lithographic work is notable for its aesthetic of almost glacial perfection, seeming to spare the viewer any form of dramatising influence. Realistic landscape and portrait lie at the origin of his artistic development, which later evolved towards a form of Surrealism mixed with a highly personal element of Expressionism. Distorted figures, metamorphosed faces, dream-like elements and the exaggeration of sensuality and sexuality in faces, characters and atmospheres transgress beyond all moral conventions. Sustained by an immutable formal elegance, beauty frees itself of any servitude in order to become the last concern of the artist. Wunderlich submits the viewer to the pure contemplation of art: a Neo-Mannerist perfection in his drawing, the masterful use of colour and morbid atmospheres are ways which lead the viewer to the mystery and pleasure of contemplation in his work.