Imi Knoebel (b. 1940)
Untitled, 1989
Mixed media: lacquer, collage, and paint on board
120 × 100 cm (excluding original frame)
Provenance: Gifted by the artist in 1992; long-term museum loan
Imi Knoebel is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in postwar German abstraction. A student of Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Knoebel emerged in the late 1960s with a radical approach to color and form, rooted in the legacies of Constructivism, Minimalism, and the Bauhaus. His practice moves fluidly between painting and sculpture, exploring the interplay of surface, spatial relationships, and material experimentation.
This work from 1989, executed in a dynamic mix of lacquer, collage, and paint, exemplifies Knoebel’s layered, tactile approach to composition during this mature phase of his career. Measuring 120 × 100 cm, it conveys both precision and painterly intensity—hallmarks of Knoebel’s distinctive visual language.
The piece also carries exceptional provenance. In 1992, Knoebel gifted it personally to the father of the previous owner, who had curated the artist’s exhibition that same year at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. As a token of appreciation, Knoebel gave him this work directly. It was subsequently placed on long-term loan to the museum, where it remained on view from 1992 to December 2022 under an extended agreement. A closely related work from the same period remains in the Bonnefantenmuseum’s permanent collection.

Never seen outside of institutional settings, this significant work encapsulates Knoebel’s commitment to abstraction as both a formal and emotional language—rigorous in construction, yet open to sensuous materiality and chromatic depth.