Short biography

1908

born in Munich on January 26, son of the painter and graphic artist Willi Geiger

1923–1925

Relocation of the family to Madrid
Travel through Spain, to the Canary Islands and Morocco

1926–1929

Studied architecture at the Munich School of Applied Arts under the neoclassicist Eduard Pfeiffer

1930–1932

Bricklayer apprenticeship in Munich

1933–1935

Architectural studies at the Staatsbauschule Munich

1936–1940

Worked for various Munich architectural firms, including Oswald Eduard Bieber

1940–1944

War service on the Eastern Front in Poland and Russia (1941-42), deployment as a war painter in Ukraine (1943) and Greece (1944)
Autodidactic study of painting, war diaries and first egg tempera paintings

1945

First participation in a group exhibition - Amtsgericht, Prien

1948

first participation in an international exhibition abroad - Réalités Nouvelles 1948, 3ème Salon in Paris
Group of works of the 'shaped canvases' (until 1949) and first print editions

1949

Co-founder of the artist group ZEN 49 (until 1957)

1949–1962

Activity as an independent architect together with his wife Monika Geiger

1951

Design of the façade at Munich Central Station as the first public commission in the field of art in architecture

1953

First solo exhibition - Moderne Galerie Otto Stangl, Munich

1955

Start working with oil paint

1963–1964

Poster series for the 'Musica Viva' concert series

1964

'Catalogue raisonné of graphic works 1948-1964'.

1965–1976

Professorship for painting at the State Academy of Arts Düsseldorf
Start of work with spray gun and acrylic paint ('fluorescent pigments')

1970

Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin

1972

'Catalogue raisonné of prints 1948-1972'

1978

First retrospective - Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

1979

Honorary member of the State Academy of Arts, Düsseldorf

1983

Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich

1993

Honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich

1999

Honorary member of the Förderverein Lenbachhaus e.V., Munich
Foundation of the Rupprecht-Geiger-Gesellschaft, Verein zur Förderung des Werks von Rupprecht Geiger e.V., based in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

2002

Representative of Germany at the XXV Bienal de São Paulo

2003

'Catalogue raisonné 1942-2002, paintings and objects, architecture-related art'.

2007

'Catalogue raisonné of prints 1948-2007'.

2008

On the occasion of his 100th birthday, numerous exhibitions and retrospectives, including Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus Munich, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen

2009

died in Munich on December 6