On Sunday, May 18, 2025, painter Johannes Heisig and gallerist Judy Lybke will meet for a public talk at Schloss Sacrow. The occasion is the anniversary exhibition “War – and Peace? 100 Years of Bernhard Heisig 1925–2025”, which honors the artistic legacy of Bernhard Heisig. The conversation will explore the development of the Leipzig School from its origins to the international presence of the New Leipzig School.
Image avobe: Johannes Heisig © Frank Höhler
The Leipzig School was the best-known school of painting in the GDR, founded by the artists Bernhard Heisig, Hans Mayer-Foreyt, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Werner Tübke and Gerhard Kurt Müller, all of whom worked in Leipzig. They had all studied at the Leipzig Academy of Art, now the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts (HGB), and later worked there as professors.
Under the rector and artist Arno Rink, a new generation of Leipzig artists became internationally recognised in the early 2000s. The gallery owner Judy Lybke (Galerie Eigen + Art, Leipzig/Berlin), who has represented the painter and former assistant of Bernhard Heisig, Neo Rauch, among others, since the 1990s, played a significant role in the success of the ‘New Leipzig School’.
Johannes Heisig is the son of Bernhard Heisig and a painter himself. He was born in 1953 and worked in his father’s workshop from an early age. He was a master student of Gerhard Kettner at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, subsequently held several art professorships and was honoured for his work with the Brandenburg Art Prize in 2020, among other awards.
The anniversary exhibition ‘War – and Peace? 100 Years of Bernhard Heisig 1925-2025’ celebrates the artistic legacy of Bernhard Heisig (1925-2011), one of the most important painters in German post-war history. The exhibition is curated and presented by CSR.ART, and shown by Ars Sacrow e.V.
WHEN?
Talk: Sunday, 18 May 2025, 3 pm
Regular exhibition opening hours: Friday – Sunday, 11 am – 6 pm (last admission: 5.30pm)
WHERE?
Sacrow Castle
Krampnitzer Str. 33
14469 Potsdam
COST?
Admission talk & exhibition: 10 euros, reduced 5 euros
Admission to exhibition only: 8 euros, reduced 5 euros (free admission for students)
