Heinrich Rettig

Heinrich Rettig, born on May 30, 1859 in Breslau, Province of Silesia, and died on December 4, 1921 in Munich, was a German painter of many talents. His work included landscapes, architecture, genre scenes and portraits, and he also worked as an illustrator.

The son of the merchant Jakob Rettig and his wife Ida, née Steinlein, Heinrich was born in Breslau. He began his education at the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium, where he graduated in the spring of 1879. In Berlin, he began his artistic studies at the Bauakademie, but soon transferred to the Kunstakademie, where he spent five years studying painting under renowned artists such as Paul Thumann, Otto Knille and Ernst Hildebrand. Nicknamed “Baron”, he was part of the student association Tartarus in Düsseldorf, although he was not enrolled at the art academy there. Around 1885, he settled in Munich, where he married the landscape and figure painter Ida von Clesius in 1890 and regularly exhibited his works in the Glaspalast. His watercolor “The Old Woman” was awarded the “Small Golden Medal” at the Munich International Art Exhibition in 1897. Rettig was a member of several artists’ associations, including the Munich Artists’ Cooperative, “Die 48” and the Munich Artists’ Exhibitors’ Association. He also taught watercolor courses for women, with Ida Paulin being one of his private students. Before the First World War, he undertook a study trip to Venice and painted on Hiddensee in 1920.

In the 1880s, Rettig created the naturalistic painting “Vorstadthof”, which captures the dreary atmosphere of a Berlin suburban backyard and was acquired by the Bavarian State Painting Collections in 1916. However, he was mainly known for his watercolors, which often included genre scenes with female figures. His ability to capture characters and emotions earned him a reputation as a “physiognomist and painter of souls”, while his virtuoso treatment of subject matter was considered a masterstroke. In addition to his painting, Rettig also worked as an illustrator, including for the magazine “Die Gartenlaube” in 1891 and for the magnificent volume of poetry “Liebe und Leben” by Friedrich von Bodenstedt, which was published in Leipzig in 1892.