Widely celebrated as one of the most influential figurative painters working today, 

 (b. 1960) is known for richly colored and elaborate paintings that contain a repertoire of invented characters, settings, objects, and motifs. At once realistic and familiar, enigmatic and inscrutable, his paintings often hint at broader narratives and histories—seemingly reconnecting with the artistic traditions of realism—yet they are dreamlike and frequently contain disparate and overlapping spaces and forms.

Rauch was born in Leipzig, where he continues to live and work, and studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst. Rauch has been represented by David Zwirner since his first show with the gallery in New York in 2000. The solo exhibition 

, was presented at David Zwirner, Hong Kong, in 2023. In 2019, 

 was exhibited at the gallery’s Hong Kong location, marking the artist’s first solo presentation in China, and 

 was presented in 2016 at the gallery’s London location. Previous solo exhibitions at the gallery in New York include 

Rauch's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at prominent institutions internationally. In 2023, his solo exhibition 

 was presented at MoCo Montpellier Contemporain, France. In 2022–2023, 

, an exhibition of his works on paper, was shown at the Drents Museum, Assen, and 

 was on view at Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, both in the Netherlands. 

 was on view at the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, in 2019–2020. 

 was presented in 2018–2019 at Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, and traveled to The Drawing Center, New York. 

 was presented at Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, the Netherlands, in 2018. In 2013, BOZAR – Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels presented a solo show of the artist’s work entitled 

Neo Rauch: The Obsession of the Demiurge. Selected Works 1993–2012

 and in 2010 his first major museum survey was cohosted by the Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig and the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. A version of this survey was shown at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, in 2011.

Other venues which have presented solo exhibitions include the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany (2012); Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany (2011); Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria (2011); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2007); Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (2007); Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2006); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2006); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain (2005); Albertina, Vienna (2004); and the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands (2002).

In 2012, the Grafikstiftung Neo Rauch opened in Aschersleben, Germany, where the artist was raised. The foundation is dedicated to maintaining and preserving Rauch's entire graphic oeuvre. In celebration of its ten-year anniversary, the Grafikstiftung Neo Rauch opened an exhibition of Rauch’s prints made since 1988, which is on view through April 28, 2024.

Institutional collections that hold works by the artist include the Albertina Museum, Vienna; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands; The Broad, Los Angeles; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Denver Museum of Art; the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence; Gemeentemuseum, the Hague; Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, the Netherlands; National Gallery of Ottawa, Canada; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; San Francisco Museum of Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Space K, Seoul; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, among others.

Portrait of Neo Rauch, 2023. Photo by Uwe Walter.

Ralph Keuning

Harald Kunde is director of the Museum Kurhaus Kleve, having previously been director of the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen and the Kunsthaus Dresden. He has worked on numerous exhibitions and publications with contemporary artists, including Atelier van Lieshout, Sophie Calle, Chuck Close, Franz Gertsch, Barbara Kruger, Dan Perjovschi, Neo Rauch, Roman Signer, and Erwin Wurm.

Harald Kunde

Ulf Küster

Norman Rosenthal

Klaus Werner

Texts by Ralph Keuning, Harald Kunde, Ulf Küster, Norman Rosenthal, and Klaus Werner

 is a survey of the painting of Neo Rauch. It begins with his first solo show in 1993 at the renowned Galerie Eigen + Art in Leipzig and traces in detail the developments in his oeuvre up to the present day, using paintings from prominent international collections as examples. Accompanying essays by well-known curators and art historians provide fundamental insights into Rauch’s complex body of work.

When Rauch was a student of Arno Rink at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, Germany was still a divided country. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, when his large, cryptic paintings first debuted in the art world, Rauch became the trailblazer for the New Leipzig School, and its most famous representative, with paintings combining elements of Pop art, comics, and advertising graphics.

Paintings 1993–2017

Neo Rauch: Dromos

Neo Rauch: Dromos | Books

David Zwirner is an art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Hong Kong. We present physical and online exhibitions, podcasts, books, and more.