The German painter Johannes Heisig was born in Leipzig in 1953. In 1973, he began studying painting and graphic art at the Academy of Fine Arts (Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst) in Leipzig. At the same time, he worked in the studio of his father, Bernhard Heisig, before receiving his diploma in 1977. From 1978 to 1980, he continued his training as a master student under Gerhard Kettner at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden. In 1980, he took up a teaching position at the Dresden Academy, where he was later appointed professor of painting and graphic art and eventually served as rector from 1989 to 1991. In 2003, he was appointed professor at the University of Dortmund.
Since 1980, Johannes Heisig has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in Germany and abroad; his works are held in many renowned museums across Germany and Europe. From 2000, he lived and worked in Berlin before moving to Teetz in Brandenburg in 2015, where he continues to work as an independent artist.
As the son of the renowned Heisig family of artists, a system-conforming artistic career initially seemed a natural path, yet both an inner and outer rupture ultimately became unavoidable. Since his withdrawal from all public offices in 1991, Johannes Heisig has worked as a freelance artist whose work combines conceptual complexity and masterful technique with an evident openness to experimentation. With a keen eye for observation, Heisig translates his impressions into an expressive, impressionistic visual language: he layers paint into apocalyptic depictions of chaotic urban life, powerful reflections on German-German history, as well as portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. In this way, he leads the realistic image out of the familiar, alienating and transforming it — often through months of overpainting — into something unique and previously unknown to the viewer.
1953: Johannes Heisig is born in Leipzig.
1973–1977: Studies painting and graphic art at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, graduating with a diploma; works in the studio of his father, Bernhard Heisig.
1978–1980: Master student of Gerhard Kettner at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.
1979–1980: Scholarship at the F+F School for Experimental Design in Zurich.
1980–1991: Returns to Dresden; teaches at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.
1988: Professor and chair of painting and graphic arts.
1989–1991: Rector of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.
1990: Founding member of the New Saxon Art Association.
1991: Resignation from teaching; since then working as a freelance artist in Dresden and Berlin.
1991: Guest seminars at German universities and in Trondheim, Norway.
1992: Founding member of the Förderverein für die Europäische Werkstatt für Kunst und Kultur Hellerau e.V. (Friends of the European Workshop for Art and Culture Hellerau).
1998: Creation of the picture cycle ‘A Love Parade’.
1999: Start of the portrait series ‘Willy Brandt’.
2000: Move to Berlin; film portrait ‘Ende der großen Belehrung’ (End of the Great Lesson), arte/ZDF.
2003: Professorship at the University of Dortmund.
2003–2004: Portrait commission ‘Willy Brandt’ for the German History Institute in Washington, USA.
2004: Exhibition tour Aus der Neuen Welt (From the New World) in Osnabrück, Göttingen, Lübeck, among other places; guest artist of the city of Eisenach in Thuringia.
2006: Portrait ‘Johannes Rau’; retrospective in Meiningen/Kleinsassen; appointment to the board of trustees of the Lippmann and Rau Foundation for Music Research and Art.
2007–2008: Picture series ‘Es war einmal’ (Once Upon a Time) in collaboration with the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse; exhibition ‘Es war einmal’ in the Berlin House of Representatives.
2009–2011: Creation of the key work ‘BeBerlin oder die einende Kraft der Musik’ (BeBerlin or the unifying power of music).
2011: Exhibition ‘Übergänge’ (Transitions) at the Willy Brandt House in Berlin.
2012–2013: Traveling exhibition on the occasion of his 60th birthday in Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, Eisenach, Oldenburg, Berlin, and other cities.
2014–2015: Further exhibitions, including Gegenüber (Opposites) at the Emsdettener Kunstverein and Angesicht (Face) at the Marburger Kunstverein.
2015: Moved from his studio in Berlin to Kyritz (Teetz district) in Brandenburg.
2020: Winner of the Brandenburg Art Prize
Johannes Heisig lives and works in Teetz.
