SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Harald Metzkes (1929–2026), a German painter and graphic artist, worked in both painting and illustration. Born in Bautzen on 23 January 1929, he died in Wegendorf on 14 May 2026. In 1946, he studied watercolour painting with Alfred Herzog. In Bautzen, he undertook an apprenticeship as a stonemason under the sculptor Max Rothe from 1947 to 1949. From 1949 to 1953, he studied painting at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where Wilhelm Lachnit and Rudolf Bergander were among his teachers.
He worked as an independent artist in Bautzen between 1953 and 1955. In 1957, he made a three-month study trip to China with the sculptor Werner Stötzer and John and Gertrud Heartfield. He settled in the southern part of East Berlin in 1959. The following year, he moved into an apartment-studio and continued his career as an independent artist.
In 1963, he also illustrated The Enchanted One, a book by Vladimir Pozner. Over the next twenty-seven years, his illustrations appeared in fifteen further books, including works by Marino Moretti, William Heinesen, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franz Fühmann, Christa Wolf, Hermann Bang, August Strindberg and Theodor Fontane.
Berlin hosted the first exhibition devoted to his work in 1963. He took part in the Venice Biennale in 1984 and 1988. In 2006, Bilanz des Malers was presented at Gottorf Castle.
In 1976, he received the Käthe Kollwitz Prize of the Academy of Arts of the GDR as well as the state distinction Banner of Labor. That same year, he also received the GDR National Prize for Illustration and Graphic Art.
This profile brings together identity references for Harald Metzkes and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
5 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky, Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Oil on canvas
Die Musikstunde, 2005
huile sur toile
Catalogue period : 2023-06-21
Published result : 3958 CHF
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : CHF 2000–3000
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Oil on canvas
Susanna, 2001
huile sur toile
Catalogue period : 2022-06-22
Published result : 3958 CHF
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : CHF 3000–5000
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Oil on canvas
Ohne Titel, 2000
huile sur toile
Catalogue period : 2022-06-22
Published result : 2103 CHF
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : CHF 1200–1800
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Oil on canvas
Ohne Titel
huile sur toile
Catalogue period : 2022-06-22
Published result : 4948 CHF
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : CHF 4000–6000
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Oil on canvas
Musikantentrio.
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2019-11-08
Published result : 3850 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 7000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
