Lot number 591 - Auction 154
'WIEDERHOLUNG' (2000)

BAHRAM HAJOU 1952 Deruna, Syrien 'WIEDERHOLUNG (REPETITION)' (2000) Mixed media on canvas. 150 x 130 cm. Monogramed, titled, dated and inscribed on the verso. Unframed. Provenance: Company collection North-Rhine Westphalia. Bahram Hajou, born in Deruna in northern Syria in 1952, is now one of the most important figurative painters of our time. The artist, who is of Kurdish descent, has lived in Münster for many years and combines emotional intensity with formal clarity in his work. His neo-expressionist painting develops a powerful yet universal visual language that deals with the major themes of human existence: closeness and distance, love and power, loneliness and desire. Hajou's path to art was anything but straightforward. After studying architecture and civil engineering in Iraq, he turned to art at an early age, but was forced to flee due to political circumstances. Via Prague, he arrived in Germany in the mid-1970s, where he first studied archaeology in Münster and later art and sports. He finally found his artistic home at the renowned Düsseldorf Art Academy. There he became a master student of Prof. Norbert Tadeusz, one of the most important representatives of post-war figurative painting. Since the early 1990s, Hajou has devoted himself exclusively to fine art. In his light-flooded studio in Hawerkamp in Münster - and occasionally in New York - he creates an oeuvre that captivates with its psychological depth and emotional power. Hajou's figures - mostly couples or individuals - appear both familiar and alien. They stand in silent tension with one another and are caught up in the uncertainties of human relationships. Often depicted naked and vulnerable, they reflect emotional states that oscillate between closeness and alienation.