Erwin Bechtold

Born in Cologne, Germany, 1925

Live and work in Ibiza. In 1949 he finished studying as a master printer, but abandoned this office to dedicate himself to the art world and moved to Paris, where he worked with Fernand Léger. In the French capital, a short trip to Barcelona is projected to become a lasting stay. In 1954 he discovered Ibiza, an island that would be his future place of residence, although without interrupting his relations with Barcelona or the European artistic centers. At this time, Ibiza is the meeting place for artists and intellectuals around the world, and it is where the Ibiza group was founded 59. In 1957, he participated in the legendary exhibition “Eine neue Richtung in der Malerei” («A new Way in painting “) at the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany, where he has his first encounter with the German painters of his generation. In the early 1960s he made his paintings in organic forms, which provoked an intense public debate in Germany, forms that he left in 1966, when geometric elements appear for the first time in his works.

It is already in 1987 when the relation angle / surface / space begins, which has continued to this day. Among other distinctions received, include the first prize FAD 1961, the mention of the Joan Miró prize 1973 in Barcelona and the prize of the VI Bienal de Eivissa 1974. He has exhibited at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona (1979), in La Llonja de Palma (1994), at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Ibiza (1995), at Es Baluard Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Palma (2005) and at the Center of Art and Nature of Huesca (2008), between Others. His work is present in national and international museums such as the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, ​​the IVAM in Valencia, the National Museum Reina Sofia Art Center in Madrid, the MACBA in Barcelona, ​​the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum de Nova York, the Ludwig Museum of Cologne and the Tate Collection in London.