For Rupprecht Geiger, color is not just color; it opens up a sphere of its own, a special spiritual level, and captivates the viewer. And it is the color red that would remain at the heart of Rupprecht Geiger's work throughout his life. The delicate gradient of the intensely bright red tones in combination with a small white contrasting window captivates the eye. The work reveals a sense of depth and, in keeping with the artist's intentions, various possible associations arise.
Rupprecht Geiger was born the only child of the painter and graphic artist Willi Geiger in Munich in 1908. He spent his childhood both in Munich and at the foothills of the Upper Bavarian Alps. In 1924, the family went to Spain for a year, a time when Geiger began making drawings and watercolors. Back in Munich, he enrolled in a degree course in architecture, which he completed in 1935. In 1940, he was drafted and deployed directly to the front in Russia. After the end of the war, Geiger returned to Munich and his first abstract painting was exhibited at the Salon des Réalistes Nouvelles in Paris in 1948. The following year, he founded the group "ZEN 49" together with Willi Baumeister, Fritz Winter, and others. In 1959, Geiger was awarded the Solomon Guggenheim Prize in New York, the same year he took part in the Biennale in Sao Paulo and the documenta II in Kassel. This artistically pivotal phase for Geiger also saw the creation of "OE 264". Color becomes a means of expression for Geiger. Red and blue characterize the impressive artistic work of the color field painter, first used in composition and then somewhat later separately as independent color values. "OE 264" is an early example in which Geiger has completed the separation of the color values and fully devotes himself to the color of blood and fire. He unleashes an extreme energy on the canvas; it seems as if we are absorbed by a blood-red cosmos in the center of the picture. But Geiger does not neglect form either, usually reducing it to a few geometric elements such as circles or, in our case, rectangles. A small white rectangle at the bottom left of the picture appears like a small window in the sky. Geiger thus brings the composition into a wonderful, almost floating balance. [AW]