Michel Majerus

Painting is Michel Majerus’s preferred medium, but it is interwoven with digital media and a repertoire of images that spans popular culture as much as art history. Video games, cinema, television, pop music, brands and logos are among his references, alongside works by celebrated artists. He also extends his work into painted installations that surround the viewer. For an exhibition at the Berlin gallery Neugerriemschneider in 1994, he asks for a road to be paved inside the space, making it part of the work.

From 1986, he studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, notably under Joseph Kosuth, and graduates in 1992. That same year, he co-founds the group 3K-NH with four fellow students; the group exhibits in Stuttgart and Berlin. In 1993, he moves to Berlin with Stephan Jung and lives and works there until 2002. In 1996, Kunsthalle Basel organises a mid-career retrospective, while an exhibition is presented at Kunsthalle Stuttgart; that same year, he exhibits at the Monika Sprüth gallery in Cologne under the title “Michel Majerus, fertiggestellt zur zufriedenheit aller, die bedenken haben”.

He takes part in Manifesta 2 in 1998, followed by the Venice Biennale in 1999, where, at the invitation of curator Harald Szeemann, he paints the façade of the International Pavilion in the Giardini. In 2000, after moving to Los Angeles as part of the DAAD programme, he begins a series of large-format paintings incorporating digital media and animated videos. Completed in Berlin the following year, the series ultimately comprises more than thirty works. After his death, his work is presented in exhibitions including those at Hamburger Bahnhof in 2003, Tate Liverpool in 2004, Kunsthaus Graz in 2005 and Kunstmuseum Stuttgart in 2011; in 2022, ICA Miami presents the first retrospective of his work in a museum in the United States.

Works recorded at auction

Lempertz · Lot 408

Untitled

Acrylic on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Acryl auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2026-06-06

Published result : 55880 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 20000

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Lempertz · Lot 68

Gebilde 2

Acryl und Bleistift auf Baumwolle

Auction date : 2023-12-01

Published result : 81900 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 60000

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Lempertz · Lot 694

Untitled (74)

Acrylic on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel (74)
Acryl auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2016-12-03

Published result : 26040 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 10000

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Lempertz · Lot 695

Ohne Titel (103)

Acryl und Bleistift auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2016-12-03

Published result : 24800 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 10000

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Lempertz · Lot 661

Untitled

Mixed media on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Mischtechnik auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2015-11-28

Published result : 37200 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 30000

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