Eduard Bargheer

Eduard Bargheer was born in 1901 as the son of a teacher in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. After training as a drawing teacher at the Hamburg School of Applied Arts, now known as the University of Fine Arts, he chose to pursue free art in 1924. He soon achieved his first exhibition successes. He formed friendships with fellow artists such as painter Gretchen Wohlwill and art historians like art hall director Gustav Pauli, university professor Erwin Panofsky, and his doctoral student Ludwig Heydenreich. Eduard Bargheer's work represents Hamburg's contribution to modern painting. Bargheer's life circumstances, his youth in Finkenwerder, his early travels, and his encounters with the South provided a wealth of experiences that he continually drew upon as a painter until he retreated to Italy to escape the Nazis. Later, his regular stays in Ischia and, most recently, his travels to Africa significantly influenced the artist's work. Volker Plagemann describes Bargheer's life and artistic journey, which began in Hamburg and returned there, and portrays his biography as part of the recent art history of Hamburg.