Most significant German contemporary artists

It is once again time to embark on a fascinating journey of discovery, for today we present to you the 14 most significant contemporary artists in Germany.

In creating this list, we carefully combined information from various reliable sources such as Artnet, Artprice.com, Sotheby’s, Saatchi, and others to present you with a well-founded selection of prominent artists from Germany.

Isa Genzken

Isa Genzken is a leading contemporary German artist who is known for her versatile artistic practice. Your works range from sculptures and installations to photography and collages. Genzken is considered one of the most important artists of their generation and has found their innovative approach to materiality and form internationally recognition.

From 1969 to 1977, she studied sculpture in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, and Berlin, her current hometown. For over three decades, Genzken has dedicated herself to a multifaceted and complex body of work that includes images, installations, films, videos, paintings, works on paper, photographs, and artist books.

In doing so, she uses a variety of materials such as wood, plaster, epoxy resin, concrete, and above all, plastics and everyday objects from consumer society.

In a subtle way, the artist reflects the current reality of society with her work.

Neo Rauch

Neo Rauch , born in 1960 in Leipzig, is undoubtedly one of the most important artists of the present. The art scene in the storm has conquered its unique work and stands out significantly from the foreseeable development that the arts have taken in recent decades.

Rauch completed his studies at the renowned Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig under the guidance of Arno Rink, at a time when Germany and Europe were still divided.

The concentration on painting in Leipzig led to the emergence of an art that clearly stood out from the trends of the international art world. Rauch's work broke through this isolation and has received worldwide recognition since the 1990s.

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter is a renowned German artist who is known for his versatile works and innovative approach to painting. His works range from abstract paintings to photographically realistic portraits, skillfully combining various techniques and styles. Richter's work has found recognition worldwide and was able to consolidate his place in contemporary art history.

Gerhard Richter left the GDR at the time in 1961 and moved from Dresden to Düsseldorf to start his studies at the State Art Academy. There he critically dealt with the socialist realism of East German painting and shaped the concept of "capitalist realism" .

With an ironic approach, judges reflected the western mass culture and linked to American pop art . Together with K. Fischer-Lueg and Sigmar Polke, he introduced capitalist realism into art in 1963. From 1964, photographs served as the basis for judges and drawings that took up everyday motifs.

Sterling Ruby

The German-born artist Sterling Ruby , who unfolds his artistic creativity in Los Angeles, is an American jewel of the art scene. He was born in Bitburg, Germany, the son of a Dutch mother and an American father, which enriches him with a diverse cultural origin.

During his childhood and adolescence, he spent formative years in both Baltimore, Maryland, and the picturesque surroundings of Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania. Sterling Ruby's life journey is reflected in his multifaceted art, characterized by an impressive combination of diverse influences and experiences.

His imposing glass ceramic sculptures and abstract paintings made him known internationally. His works are characterized by dark interpretations of color field painting of the 1960s and relate to modern architecture, minimalism as well as topics such as marginalism, vandalism and power structures.

Through its unique use of materials and the ability to create a very own visual language, Sterling Ruby is undoubtedly one of the most important artists of the early 21st century.

Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger was an important German artist who was known for his diverse works and provocative appearance. With his innovative style and his critical view of society, he has had a lasting impact on contemporary art landscape.

His work includes a variety of media and topics ranging from painting and sculpture to installations and performance art . Kippenberger's unique artistic approach and his creative versatility make him an important figure in the German art history of the 20th century.

Martin Kippenberger valued his multiples just as highly as his unique works. This attitude reflected his philosophy of life and art: from the simplest object, considered unacceptable by the art world, to the most sublime and respected theory, he could transform anything into art.

Hierarchies, topics or the various media did not matter for him as long as he could express his ideas. Nevertheless, his work was always shaped by his interest in people.

Wolfgang Tillmans

Wolfgang Tillmans is a well -known German photographer and artist. Born in Remscheid in 1968, he made a significant contribution to contemporary art landscape. His versatile work includes photos, installations and prints that often reflect on social and political issues.

Tillmans' innovative use of light, color and composition makes it one of the most influential artists in his generation. His works were exhibited in renowned museums and galleries worldwide and have received numerous awards, including the Turner Prize. Wolfgang Tillmans remains a fascinating figure in the art world and continues to set standards for contemporary photography.

Tillmans is considered a multifaceted photographer of modern life. In November 2000 he was awarded the Turner Prize . He creates portraits, landscapes , still lifes, cityscapes, self -portraits and recently also abstract representations. Completely different images are combined in large -format installations, which leads to unexpected associations and surprising connections.

Tillmans does not simply attach his pictures to the wall, but hangs them up with tears or office clips. The artist will create an installation with landscape photos and abstract photo works especially for de Hallen.

Anselm pine

Anselm Kiefer is a renowned German artist who is known for his impressive and often monumental paintings, sculptures and installations. His works are characterized by their depth, complexity and cultural references. Kiefer uses different materials such as lead, straw, ash and concrete to create a unique aesthetics.

Through his art, he researches topics such as history, mythology and identity and critically questions the past of Germany. His unique style and his artistic vision have made him an important representative of contemporary German art.

Kiefer is one of the outstanding representatives of “New German Painting” and Neo -Expressionism , along with artists such as Baselitz, Immendorf, Lüpertz and Penck. His works research profound topics such as the German national identity and history of Germany.

Due to its large -format and haunting paintings, Kiefer creates a variety of interpretations by deliberately not making any clear statements. It seems as if he is subjectively processed the collective memory and sees painting as a process of thinking.

Albert Oehlen

Albert Oehlen is also a well -known contemporary German artist who is known for his experimental approach to painting. Oehlen is known for combining different styles and techniques and exceeding traditional limits in art. His works are often abstract and provocative, and his artistic vision has a lasting influence on the contemporary art scene.

In addition to painting, Oehlen was also interested in philosophy , particularly Nietzsche. One of his most fascinating paintings is titled “The Appearance of Appearance” (1983). Oehlen’s artistic concept encompasses striking and disorienting representations of spaces, mirrors, and models. The art of illusion, the amplification of illusion, which precisely represents a reduction of ironic diversity, allows for the overcoming of the illusion of aesthetic substitute for which art stands.

What is hidden behind the facade? The unsightly life. If you restrict the illusion to the illusory, you can reach the last observable that is no longer available. More precisely: you come across the unimaginable, the scary, the ugly. Nobody talks about it; You have suppressed it.

Thomas Schütte

Thomas Schütte (born in 1954 in Oldenburg) is a renowned German sculptor and artist. Known for his versatile works, which range from small -format sculptures to monumental installations, Schütte is one of the most important contemporary artists in Germany.

Thomas Schütte mastered a variety of techniques and has created a comprehensive, yet coherent total work of art: watercolors, drawings, models, monumental and small -format sculptures as well as installations. He has developed further in all of these directions and skillfully intertwined the various art forms. He chooses a theatrical approach in which the entire room is included in the staging and the viewer becomes part of the presentation.

Schütte often plays with size differences and standards: a sculpture in a “normal” size suddenly looks huge compared to a miniature figure. The forms of Schütte range between reality (realized sculpture) and utopia (model for something that could possibly be implemented).

His work is of rich importance and often includes textual elements.

Markus Lüpertz

Markus Lüpertz , born in 1941 in Reichenberg, today's Liberec in Bohemia, is a highly respected German artist who works as a painter, sculptor and graphic artist. It is one of the most important and influential representatives of the German art scene since World War II.

His art was shown in the Hirshhorn Museum and the Phillips Collection in the USA, as well as in the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris and many other well -known museums. His works are represented in important collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Albertina in Vienna.

He became known primarily as a leading figure of the “new wild” movement in the 1980s. Markus Lüpertz is characterized by his multifaceted artistic forms of expression, including painting, sculpture, graphics and poetry. His works are characterized by an often expressive and experimental approach to art. With an impressive career, he can look back on a variety of works that are represented in renowned museums and collections worldwide. From 1988 to 2009, Markus Lüpertz held the office of rector at the state art academy in Düsseldorf .

Particularly noteworthy is the previous auction record of 350,000 euros for the work “Arrangement for a hat I - Dithyrambian” at an auction of Christie’s in London in 2020. Markus Lüpertz leaves a significant cultural contribution through his fascinating art.

Andreas Gursky

Andreas Gursky , born and raised in Germany, is undoubtedly one of the most important contemporary photo artists of our time. His impressive works fascinate viewers all over the world and have secured a permanent place in the art scene.

With his unique perspective and its distinctive style, Gursky succeeds in blowing up the boundaries of photography and letting us look around us with new eyes. His artistic vision and creative genius make him a real master of his craft, whose influence and importance will reach over generations.

Andreas Gursky is undoubtedly an icon of contemporary art world that amazes us with her pictures and reminds us of how diverse and fascinating the world of photography can be.

The works of Andreas Gursky are best described as large -format panoramas that emphasize distance, order and overview. His way of working shows in parallels to that of his teachers, the German photographer Bernd and Hilla Becher , especially with regard to the documentary style and the camera work.

A striking difference to the works of his famous predecessors lies in the use of colors, the size of the motifs and the presence of people. The relationship between people and the structure of their surroundings is a central topic in Gursky's works, the buildings, public spaces (inside and outside), mass culture and nature.

Georg Baselitz

Georg Baselitz , born in 1938 as Hans-Georg Kern in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony, is undoubtedly one of the outstanding personalities of the global art world. His works have conquered a permanent place in the most renowned museums and art collections in the world and enjoy unbroken admiration.

His trademark motifs on his head was created in the 1970s and brought him a unique view. Baselitz took on the role of a provocateur, criticized former GDR artists and made a controversial headlines with his sometimes drastic representations.

After a turbulent start of study in the GDR, he moved his creation place to West Berlin, where his style was admired despite initial ignorance. His famous 1963 exhibition with provocative pictures revolutionized the art scene and made it known overnight. Today Baselitz is one of the leading artists worldwide and is celebrated for his works in renowned museums.

With awards such as the Kaiserring Art Prize, his influence in the international art world-a remarkable rise from a rebellious troublemaker to the icon of the modern art scene.

Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff is a German photo artist who is known for his experimental approach to photography. His works range from portraits to abstract work that explore the boundaries of the medium. Ruff has received international recognition for his innovative work and is considered one of the leading contemporary photographers in Germany.

Between 1977 and 1985, Thomas Ruff completed his photography studies at the renowned art academy Düsseldorf, where he was looked after by Bernd & Hilla Becher. His fellow students included well -known photographers such as Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer and Thomas Struth.

Ruff initially started his photographic career with landscape shots, but during his studies he switched to photography from interiors (1979-1983) and tripod portraits of his friends. Initially, he worked in black and white before he soon passed over to use color photography and used uniform backgrounds in different colors.

Hito Steyerl

Hito Steyerl (born in 1966 in Munich) is a renowned German artist, filmmaker and author. Her work is known for your critical examination of the topics of technology, globalization and politics.

Your reflections on the effects of the Internet and digitization on our everyday life are apt and occasionally humorous. It illuminates the rapid speed, with which pictures and information are continuously adapted and distributed until the pace increases into infinity or until it leads to a breakdown and resolution.

It is considered one of the most important contemporary artists and has achieved internationally recognition with their multimedia works. Steyerl's work often combines documentary elements with fictional and speculative elements, which creates complex and complex narratives.

Her work can be seen at numerous renowned exhibitions and festivals worldwide.