Imi Knoebel

Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin

Private collection, Germany (acquired from the above)

Acquired from the above by the present owner

• From Imi Knoebel’s celebrated Grace Kelly series, inspired by the actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly, in which colour itself becomes a form of portraiture.
• Works from the Grace Kelly series are held in important institutional collections including the Sammlung Goetz and the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection

A central figure within post war German abstraction, Imi Knoebel has consistently explored the relationship between colour, form and material throughout his career. After studying at the Werkkunstschule Darmstadt, Knoebel entered the Düsseldorf Academy, where he became part of the influential class led by Joseph Beuys alongside artists such as Blinky Palermo and Jörg Immendorff. Since his early Raum 19 installation of 1968, Knoebel has developed a radically reductive artistic language in which colour and geometry become subjects in themselves.

Begun in 1989 and developed over more than fifteen years, the Grace Kelly series occupies a distinctive place within Knoebel’s mature oeuvre through its rare connection to a specific figure. Rather than remaining entirely detached from representation, the works translate Grace Kelly’s image and presence into a restrained visual language built through colour and geometry. Each panel functions as its own chromatic composition, balancing precision with subtle emotional resonance. The present work expands this visual language into a monumental thirty eight part ensemble, creating a composition that moves between painting, object and installation. While rooted in abstraction, the work still retains an architectural quality that recalls the structural clarity of artists such as Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondriaan.

Works from the Grace Kelly series are held in important institutional collections including the Sammlung Goetz and the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection, reflecting the significance of the series within Knoebel’s wider exploration of colour and abstraction. Knoebel’s continued relevance within contemporary European art was further reinforced through his stained glass commissions for Reims Cathedral, realised in 2011 and 2015, where colour became not only a formal element but also a spatial and spiritual experience.