Ulrich Erben (Düsseldorf, 1940)

a renowned leading representative of European aniconic painting; he studied at the academies of Hamburg, Venice and Berlin. Starting from landscapes and still-life paintings, he moves towards a work based on the intense link between geometry and nature, with a particular interest in architecture and the space dimensions. In 1968, he creates the first painting in white, neutral painting, free from associations, which is able to show the energy of a landscape without figurative connection. Later, although he mainly uses white, the artist adds simple shapes of saturated colours. The rigid forms thus tend to dissolve more and more, going hand in hand with the intensification of colour, in particular towards the end of the Eighties. Colours become "colours of memory", often put on the canvas based on their influence and mutual attraction. Along with the colours, also light and dimensions in Erben's paintings are fundamental elements used to involve the observer. The variable lighting, together with the different chromatic tones, crosses his canvases generating perspective illusions and changing nuances. In 1976, he takes part in Documenta VI.

The artist exhibited in numerous public and private spaces in Germany and in the world, among which: Folkwang Museum, Essen; Kunsthalle, Mannheim; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Museum of Modern Art, Osaka; Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden; Mies van der Rohe-Haus, Berlin; Fondazione Zappettini; Museum Kurhaus, Kleve; Barmenia Versicherungen, Wuppertal; MKM Museum Küppersmühle für moderne Kunst, Duisburg; artOn, Istanbul; Museum Goch; Kunstmuseum Bochum; Josef-Albers-Museum Quadrat, Bottrop; Museum Goch, Goch.

His works belongs to important private and public collections among which: Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart/Berlin; Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen; Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle, Halle; Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster; Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Kleve; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn; Schwauerk Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen; Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal.