Erwin Bechtold (*1925 in Cologne, † 2022 in Ibiza) created a multifaceted oeuvre of paintings and drawings with few pictorial means. He often used basic geometric shapes that are broken up by organic elements. Gray and earth tones dominate his oeuvre. Some paintings are exclusively black and white or show only a few lines. With these sparing means, he explored basic elements and opposites of design, such as form and surface, gesture and geometry or spatial questions about the outside and inside. He found the leitmotifs of his artistic expression in the opposition of order and chance. By using earth and sand, the artist created sculptural, rough surfaces or created seemingly immaterial pictorial spaces by blurring graphite.

Bechtold had already emigrated to Spain in the 1950s and was one of the most important visual artists of the second half of the 20th century on the Iberian Peninsula and beyond. Despite the remoteness of his home on Ibiza, he was an active member of numerous artists’ groups in Spain and Germany. He took part in the 4th Documenta in 1968, won the Joan Miró Prize in 1973 and was awarded an honorary professorship by the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1990.

Together with K.O. Götz, Gerhard Hoehme and Bernard Schultze, Erwin Bechtold took part in the first exhibitions of German Art Informel. His works have been part of the Ströher Collection for many years. In 2020 and 2021, his paintings were shown in solo presentations at the MKM. After the artist’s death in 2022, these paintings and drawings remained in the museum on permanent loan. This year, they have been supplemented by an extensive collection of works on paper from his estate, which is being looked after by his widow Christina Bechtold. More than 60 works are now on display in the newly furnished artists’ room, the majority of which are works on paper created between 1960 and the later 1990s. For the first time, the focus here is on these works. They demonstrate the key role played by drawings and works on paper in the development of Bechtold’s paintings and testify to his consistent exploration of his fundamental pictorial themes. At the same time, they show the great wealth of his motifs and the ingenuity of his painting, which is reduced to the essentials.