From 8 February to 7 June 2026, the Emil Schumacher Museum in Hagen, in cooperation with the Geiger Archive in Munich, will honour the painter Rupprecht Geiger with a major solo exhibition comprising around 70 works from all phases of the artist’s career.
Image caption: Rupprecht Geiger, Pinc moduliert, 2005, Acryl auf Holz, 100 x 100 cm, WVZ 944, Archiv Geiger, München © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025, Foto: Andreas Pauly, München.
With this comprehensive exhibition of Rupprecht Geiger’s work, the museum is dedicating itself to one of the most important representatives of colour field painting in Europe and creating an indirect encounter between the two artists, Geiger and Schumacher, who were friends, that has never been seen before. Two painters, two paths of non-representational art after 1945, which appear almost like opposite poles: on the one hand, expressive gestures; on the other, the clarity of pure colour.
Innovative and ahead of his time, Geiger shaped the art of the second half of the 20th century. His departure from representational design was both a logical consequence and a matter of self-image. Colour was at the centre of his work and remained the sole theme of his painting throughout his life. By radically reducing the colour carrier to simple geometric forms, he mastered the effect of pure colour like no one before him and was one of the first artists to work with chemically produced daylight pigments.
His tireless exploration of form and colour, especially the colour red, has earned Munich painter Rupprecht Geiger (1908–2009) international recognition and the highest honours since the 1950s, such as the Salomon Guggenheim Prize, New York (1959) and the Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen (1992), as well as participation in all major art biennials from Kassel to São Paulo.
‘Red is life, energy, potency, power, love, warmth, strength. Red makes you high.’ – Rupprecht Geiger, 1975.
Geiger’s lifelong fascination with light and colour is clearly evident in the development of his life’s work; from his early travel diary entries with detailed landscape watercolours to the vivid colour fields that have become iconic in Geiger’s oeuvre, his work shows an unwavering consistency in his focus on bright colours in their purest form.
As co-founder of the ZEN 49 group and leading representative of non-representational art, he was at the centre of the West German art scene after 1945. Geiger’s art in public spaces continues to shape the image of many cities and public buildings to this day, such as the ‘Gerundete Blau’ (Rounded Blue) at the Gasteig Cultural Centre in Munich (currently at a temporary location in Sendling, ‘Gasteig HP 8’) from 1987, or the ‘Dreiteilige Wandgestaltung’ (Three-Part Wall Design) at the Ruhr University in Bochum from 1975.
‘With the exhibition at the Emil Schumacher Museum in Hagen, we are showing how diverse expression in non-representational art can be; the difference between Geiger’s and Schumacher’s approaches could not be greater,’ says Rouven Lotz, director of the Emil Schumacher Museum. The artist’s granddaughter and head of the Geiger Archive since 2010, Julia Geiger, adds: ‘It’s exciting to see my grandfather’s works in this place. Geiger and Schumacher held each other in high esteem and even exchanged works. With this exhibition at the Emil Schumacher Museum, we are bringing the artists closer together and drawing attention to the diversity of non-representational art in the 20th century.’
In order to highlight the versatility and development of Rupprecht Geiger’s work, the exhibition features pieces from all phases of his career: landscapes and still lifes from his early work, taken from his diaries, as well as early gouaches depicting colourful landscapes and Mediterranean cityscapes. Rarely exhibited graphite drawings and characteristic radiant colour modulations invite visitors to immerse themselves in Geiger’s work and revel in its vibrant colours.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Emil Schumacher Museum in Hagen and the Geiger Archive in Munich. It will be on display in Hagen for around four months and accompanied by an extensive supporting programme.
Curators: Julia Geiger and Rouven Lotz
WHEN?
Exhibition dates: Sunday, 8 February – Sunday, 7 June 2026
Opening: Sunday, 8 February 2026, 11 a.m.
Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 12 – 6 p.m.
WHERE?
Emil Schumacher Museum
Museumsplatz 1–2
58095 Hagen
