Imi Knoebel - Basel Window (2020)

Basel Window (2020) - An art-historical highlight of the German art scene

The German art legend Imi Knoebel has attracted great international attention with his work “Basel Window”. In the bar of the Basel Volkshaus, the conceptual artist designed four large-format window panels made of 240 different pieces of old glass, which create an extraordinary interplay of light and color. Art critics describe the masterpiece as a representative art-historical highlight and the Financial Times praised Imi Knoebel’s “Basel Window” as the real star of the Art Basel art fair in 2021. The motifs are based on the color theory concepts of the Bauhaus style. The artist Imi Knoebel is known, among other things, for designing the stained glass windows of the Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral.

For the first time, four copies from the exclusive, hand-made series by conceptual artist Imi Knoebel were acquired. The series is strictly limited to just 12 motifs, each with 7 works of the same motif (+ 2 artist proof editions) and served as the original template for the celebrated artwork of the Basel Windows. The four hand-made and strictly limited acrylic works from Imi Knoebel's series "Basel Windows (2020)" represent an extraordinary piece of art history.

The works each measure 97 x 157 cm and were created by the artist with hand-colored acrylic on plastic film. The only auction to date of a Basel window motif during the Dorotheum Art Auction in 2022 achieved a breathtaking price.

In the “Basel Windows”, a sculptural spatial effect is created through layering, arranging and stacking as well as the interplay of different colors. The arrangement of twelve fields, each with five contrasting colors, creates a varied and intense color experience for the viewer.

The most important features of the works of art

About Imi Knoebel

Imi Knoebel was born in Dessau in 1940, but moved to Düsseldorf at a young age, where he still lives and develops his creativity today. His most significant endeavor to date has been the creation of several stained glass windows for the Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral, which were installed in 2011 and 2015. Due to Knoebel's German ancestry and his creation of this artwork for the French cathedral, which had been damaged by German bombing during World War I, this commission had important political significance.