1892 Würzburg
1958 Paris

Hans Reichel was born in Würzburg on 9 August 1892, at a time, which was formed by artistic revolutions, war and social riots. Reichel was attracted to painting and writing. Reichel earned his living with small feature articles and got to know Rilke, whose poetic mysticism impressed him. Shortly Reichel attended the school of modern art in 1918. His encounter with Paul Klee in 1919 was forming, when both artists had a studio at the castle Werneck in Munich. Compared to Klee's works, Reichel's were less formed by academically elaborated experiments, any kind of objectivity, calculating, irony and caricature was alien for him. The artists kept the contact between themselves even when Klee went to the Bauhaus. During visits to Dessau, Reichel met with Kandinsky, Gropius and Feininger. In 1929 Reichel went to Paris, where he became acquainted with the photographer Brassaï. In 1936 a lifelong contact to Henry Miller began, whom Reichel taught watercolour painting at times. Since 1939 Hans Reichel was interned in several camps until he was able to escape and return to Paris. After the end of the war he further developed his art, any kind of construction remained alien to him, throughout his life his work's main aim was improvisation as well as expression of feelings. Hans Reichel died in Paris on 7 December 1958. In 1960 he was honoured by a comprehensive exhibition in Cologne and at the Kestner Gesellschaft Hanover. In 2005 the ‚Museum im Kulturspeicher' showed a retrospective titled ‚Ordnung und Chaos'.