Biography
Günther Förg studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1973 to 1979, and achieved international renown at an early age.
By means of painting and photography, Förg reflects upon modernity, and upon the signs through which it manifests itself. His photographs of architecture from the Bauhaus period question the parameters of the modern when confronted with the wear and tear of time. His abstract paintings frequently echo motifs used by major American Abstract and Minimalist painters of the 1950s and 60s (Barnett Newman, Clifford Still, De Kooning) or by European artists (Munch, Fautrier), motifs which he interprets freely.
Since Günther Förg’s death in 2013, his art has received growing international recognition. The world’s leading museums have collected his work: MoMa (New York), MoCA (Los Angeles), Tate Britain and Tate Modern (London), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), and the Kunstmuseum Basel. In 2018, he was the subject of a major retrospective, entitled “Günther Förg – A Fragile Beauty”, at the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) and at the Dallas Museum of Art. In 2023, his first solo exhibition in Asia, entitled “Trunk Road and Branch Roads”, was held at Long Museum in Shanghai. Since 1997, Galerie Lelong has organized ten exhibitions of Günther Förg’s work in Paris, in collaboration with the artist and his estate.
