A Life of Artistic Pursuit
Born in Weimar, Germany, Horst de Marées was a painter whose life was shaped by significant historical shifts. Following his service in the First World War, where he was wounded in the leg, he pursued formal art studies. He first studied at the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar under Walther Klemm, and later moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich to study with Hugo von Habermann. During the 1920s, he found success as a portrait painter, which eventually led him to relocate to Florence in 1927.
His journey took him through various regions, including East Prussia, where he lived in Braktin and later Ragauen. During the period of the Third Reich, his work faced complex circumstances; for instance, a mural composition was removed from the Museum Folkwang Essen in 1937 as part of the "Degenerate Art" action and was subsequently destroyed. After the war, he lived in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the German Democratic Republic, where he continued his painting despite facing exhibition restrictions. In 1960, he moved to the Federal Republic of Germany, residing in Osterbruch and maintaining a summer residence in Verdun-en-Lauragais until his death in Otterndorf.
Artistic Legacy and Works
The body of work produced by Horst de Marées is extensive, comprising several thousand pieces. While a significant portion of his oeuvre was lost during the Soviet invasion of East Prussia, much of his remaining work is preserved in museums located in Meiningen, Erfurt, and Altenburg, alongside various private collections. His artistic output includes diverse subjects, such as:
His career was marked by a certain distance from the prevailing artistic trends and fashions of his time. Throughout his life, his relationship with the political and artistic establishments of both the Nazi era and the GDR remained complex and ambivalent.
