Kurt Gröger (1905-1952), "at The Station"

Kurt Gröger was born in Sternberk, Moravia (present-day Czech Republic) in 1905. Born into a family of German industrialists, the young Kurt preferred to pursue fine arts and studied at the Dresden Academy from 1923 to 1929, under Professor Robert Sterl and Georg Lührig. The post-World War I German Expressionist influence is expressed in his early work, which bears witness to the era filled with existential problems, despair, sadness, and loneliness. Like other artists, Kurt Gröger found inspiration in Edvard Munch. This is evidenced by his expressionist self-portrait from 1929. The psychic emotion and his inner revolt are perceptible. He made his first stay in Paris in 1926, where he met Simone Driay, his future wife. Fascinated by France and Paris, his works became more colorful and harmonious from the 1930s onwards, with more landscapes as well. He was then inspired by his post-impressionist relations such as those of Bonnard, Vuillard, André, Marquet. He exhibited in Prague, Vienna, Opava and Ostrava. He paid particular attention to painting the landscapes of his homeland and France. The works of this period are considered to be his most successful. He settled permanently in France in 1938 and his Parisian dream came true. We find in his works the bustle of café terraces, the intimacy of restaurant interiors, concert halls, the crossing of bridges, the colorful tranquility of parks, etc. To escape an arrest warrant against him by the Germans in 1942, he retired to the Resistance under the pseudonym of Richard Gouffet. At the end of the war, he was unable to save his parents, nor to repatriate part of his work, who remained in Sternbeck, and remained unable to return to his homeland. Despite a solo exhibition at the Methey gallery in 1949 in Paris, the arbitrariness of the authorities pushed him to commit suicide in 1952. Throughout his life, Kurt Gröger fought against the common enemy, the Nazi power, alongside Czechs and Slovaks for peace, freedom and democracy in Europe. (source: Josef Maliva). In the autumn of 2003, a retrospective was held in the town of Sternberk, organized by the Olmütz Art Museum. The director, Mrs. Stepanka Biélezova, emphasized the historical and artistic importance of Kurt Gröger and his entire oeuvre, which is exhibited in France, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.