Bernhard Heisig (1925 Breslau - 2011 Strohdehne/Havelland) "In the forest". Original title A composition dominated by extremely powerful and impasto verticals, conceived in perspective in a colour palette associated with autumn, interwoven with shadow-like, dark contrasts. Alongside Tübke and Mattheuer, Heisig is one of the most important representatives of the "Leipzig School". He was one of the most important painters and graphic artists in the GDR and was also regarded in the West as one of the most important representatives of GDR art until the fall of communism in 1989. Awarded state commissions and prizes, Heisig moved between classical modernism and contemporary realism, but was also the only known GDR painter to engage with Pop Art and operated with quotations, photo collages and changing levels of reality. Heisig's expressive style - in the tradition of Beckmann, Dix, Corinth, Kokoschka and Slevogt - which he combined with current trends, brought him great international recognition even before 1989. One of Heisig's best-known works is the portrait of Helmut Schmidt created in 1986 for the Gallery in the Federal Chancellery. The fact that Schmidt chose the GDR artist at the time was not least a deliberate political statement by the politician to emphasise the "all-German aspect". With his portrait of the Chancellor, Heisig had captured a piece of reunification on canvas, so to speak. Also in 1986, Neo Rauch, today one of Germany's most important contemporary artists, became Heisig's master student and assistant. At an exhibition in the Berlin National Gallery, Heisig was finally placed on the same level as Heckel, Kirchner and Schmidt-Rottluff. Oil on canvas, 2008. signed on bottom right; 50 cm x 60 cm. Frame. Provenance: Helmut Schmidt Collection (1918-2015); gift to his partner Ruth Loah (1933-2017); inheritance; Auktionshaus Stahl, Hamburg, 29.04.2017, lot 275. Oil on canvas, 2008. signed.