Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern

Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern was born on the German-Russian border and received little education. Accusations of theft and occasionally aggressive behavior led to his being sent to reformatories and even to a psychiatric hospital. From these experiences, he developed a deep hatred for authority. After a number of odd jobs—working in a circus and as a fortune teller, among others—Schröder-Sonnenstern fell ill; doctors diagnosed him with early-onset dementia. He then turned to painting and drawing, having been introduced to art during a brief period in prison earlier in his life.

Using colored pencils on thin washes of paint to achieve depth, Schröder-Sonnenstern drew grotesque, colorful caricatures, monsters, and animals. An immense sense of menace and sadistic subversion characterizes all his works: the grotesque flourishes in a sinister and sexually charged mythical world.

His work attracted the attention of the Surrealists and gained some notoriety starting in the 1960s. The artist was even featured in the E.R.O.S. exhibition (1959) at the Musée des Abattoirs in Toulouse.