Intensive colours and a pioneering spirit – the Africa cycle of Ruth Baumgarte.

The German artist Ruth Baumgarte (1923–2013) is regarded as one of the outstanding women artists of the 20th century. The catalogue focuses on the wide-ranging body of works that resulted from the artist’s travels to African countries including Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Ruth Baumgarte was interested in the foreign cultures of a continent that was still largely unexplored by European artists at the time. When studied, her paintings, watercolours and drawings reveal an almost magical quality. Central to the understanding of Ruth Baumgarte’s work is the relationship between humans and nature, and the fusion of figure and landscape and light and colour.