Misch Da Leiden (pseudonym) was born after the Second World War in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg into a family of shopkeepers (hairdressers). In 1969, he began his artistic training at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre (ENSAV) in Brussels. He continued his studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (1970-1974), when Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was a professor there (until 1972). In Düsseldorf, he started his professional career in 1972. He initially co-founded a screen-printing workshop before opening his own studio in 1989. His numerous travels helped him to find new inspiration. In 1970, for example, he visited London to attend an exhibition by Richard Hamilton (1922–2011). From 1988 onwards, he made several trips to Italy. From 2002, he battled a degenerative disease (Parkinson's) which gradually reduced his ability to express himself. He continued his creative activity with the help of digital image processing. Da Leiden was in a long-term partnership with Elvira Mechthold.

In his work, Da Leiden mainly played with visual images from the real world, with a preference for figurative representations and with more or less explicit political and social criticism. He expressed himself in various artistic styles: Critical Realism, Pop Art and Post-modern figurative art. He mainly made use of mixed techniques, with a preference for acrylic painting, drawing, screen printing, photography, creating reliefs, collages, décollages, assemblages, and "interdisciplinary montages" (Grawe 48). He developed an original, highly graphic visual language, characterised by the interplay of different surfaces (superimposition, contrast (positive/negative), serial repetition), colours and materials. These frequently resulted in triptychs. His works are meticulously constructed and based on several preparatory studies, with highly graphic, aesthetic and balanced compositions. He created the concept of “visual dialects” to describe different interpretations of the same motif (Grawe 48).

The human being and the analysis of society have always been at the centre of his attention (family, body fragments etc.). In the early years of his artistic career, he was mainly interested in the media, the cosmos, art history, or cars, to name a few, and later in the symbols of the ‘80s. However, his focus was on processing excerpts from reality, “filtered through the mass media” (Grawe 50), often combined with humour and wordplay. Furthermore, the titles of his works have always been of great relevance. Some motifs that were considered superfluous were sometimes reused in large compositions after several years (shelf system, old television, lamp), as, for example, in Métro-Boulot-Dodo (2017). This polyptych, which shows objects from the artist’s household in an interior space, criticises our monotonous way of life (Nowara). The figures depicted usually represent social roles. In some cases, they can be identified as people from his circle of acquaintances or as self-portraits.

His work can be divided into several periods: in the early 1960s, he began with abstract works, but given the predominance of abstract painting based on the École de Paris in Luxembourg, he reacted with figurative painting (Thill). Later, he was inspired by Pop Art, but soon his work turned towards Critical Realism. From 1980 to 1986, he went through an experimental phase, followed by a phase of relief work between 1986 and 1994. This transition from the second to the third dimension enabled him to develop the foundations of his personal style from 1994 onwards. From 1996, the artist also started to use digital image processing.

Da Leiden participated in numerous group exhibitions and a few monographic exhibitions. His first solo exhibition took place at the Galerie Horn in Luxembourg in 1968. From 1976, he presented his work in several exhibitions in Germany, mostly in art galleries (Deltagalerie Düsseldorf, Galerie Niepel Düsseldorf, Galerie Friedman-Hahn Berlin, Galerie Claudius Hamburg) and art associations (Kunstverein Hattingen, Kunstverein Jülich). Some exhibitions were organised at institutes including the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf and the Bildungsinstitut H. Hansen in Lage-Hörste. In 2017, an important retrospective exhibition was held at the Galerie Schlassgoart in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. As for group exhibitions, he first exhibited in his home country, but later mainly abroad (in Germany, Lithuania and Sweden). During his studies, in 1969, he took part in the large international exhibition Initiative 69 in Luxembourg City, followed by the Biennale de la Peinture et Sculpture des Jeunes in 1971. From 1981 onwards, he regularly participated in the Jahresaustellung Düsseldorfer Künstler. In 2021, the exhibition Summer of ‘69 at the Villa Vauban brought together two Luxembourg artists: Berthe Lutgen and Misch Da Leiden. As for gallery representations, the artist was represented abroad by Galerie Niepel in Düsseldorf and Galerie Friedmann-Hahn in Berlin.

Da Leiden was associated with several important artists of his generation. In 1965, he met the American artist Ray Donarski (1935-1996), who steered him towards Pop Art. In Luxembourg, he worked with Marc Henri Reckinger, René Wiroth, René Kieffer, Carlo Dickes, Jos Weydert and Berthe Lutgen. In 1969, he took courses in monumental painting with Professor Jo Delahaut (1911-1992) at La Cambre (ENSAV). In 1973, he organised a meeting between visitors from Brussels and Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) in Düsseldorf. In 2009, he and his friend, filmmaker Rainer Komers (1944-), spent some time in Berlin on a study visit (Galerie Friedmann-Hahn).

The artist is represented in several public and private collections. In 1970, he was first included in the ENSAV collection in Brussels, while he was still a student there. In 1974, his graduation work (Polaroid photographs) was purchased by the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf. In Germany, his work can also be found in the Artothek in Düsseldorf, the Goethe Gymnasium in Düsseldorf and the Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz in Dortmund. In his native country, he is represented in several public collections, including the Musée national d'archéologie, d'histoire et d'art (MNAHA), the 2 Musées de la Ville de Luxembourg, the Ministry of Culture, the National Library of Luxembourg (BnL), the Galerie Schlassgoart and several private collections.

From 1969, Da Leiden was a member of the artist group Initiative 69. He co-founded the Arbeitsgruppe Kunst and, in 1971, the Groupe de recherche d'art politique (GRAP). In Germany, he was one of the founders of the Atelierhaus Poststraße in Düsseldorf and a member of the foundation F.G. Bildende Kunst der IG Medien, Düsseldorf.

In Luxembourg, Da Leiden received the Prix d’encouragement at the IV. Biennale de la Peinture et de la Sculpture des Jeunes in Esch-sur-Alzette in 1969 and the second prize at the V. Biennale des Jeunes in Esch-sur-Alzette in 1971. In Germany, he was awarded the Karl-Hofer-Preis HdK Berlin in 1982.

At the beginning of his career, Da Leiden was part of the artistic avant-garde in Luxembourg, as the art historian Edmond Thill pointed out (‘Art et contestation au Luxembourg, 1967-1971’). Nevertheless, he decided to move to Düsseldorf to pursue his career (Nowara). Da Leiden received the first genuine recognition of his work abroad in 1987, when the city of Düsseldorf organised the exhibition Bildwuchs. It presented the artist's creative process and at the same time highlighted the importance of his visual language, which he had developed from press photos, television broadcasts and advertising (Zacher). In 2012, the German writer Achim Raven described Da Leiden as a classical artist, not in the naïve sense, but as an artist who, on a human scale, created monumental montages from the ruins of our society. In Luxembourg, his work was first honoured in the Kuck Hei retrospective in Esch-sur-Alzette in 2017. In the context of the Summer of ‘69 exhibition in 2021, curator Gabriele Grawe noted an interesting "typically Luxembourgish" characteristic in his work, namely the multilingualism, which she said was at the roots of his "visual dialects" (48).

In line with the ideas of Critical Realism, I argue that the concept of voyeurism by Alain Laframboise, who defines the voyeur as a person in search of a perfectly complete image (14), can be applied to Da Leiden's work. Indeed, the artist frequently used a suggestive fragmentation of images by showing only an incomplete image that the viewer must complete through his or her imagination. To enhance this effect, he often deliberately incorporated elements from his own life into his works.

Works cited

Da Leiden, Misch, Galerie Friedmann-Hahn (éd.). Misch Da Leiden: Bilder, die fehlten!: 20. März bis 28. April 2012. Berlin: Galerie Friedmann-Hahn, 2012. Exhibition catalogue.

Grawe, Gabriele. "Œuvres de Misch Da Leiden depuis les années de révolte." Thewes, Guy, Grawe, Gabriele, Zutter, Stefanie. Summer of '69. Luxembourg: Villa Vauban - Musée d'Art de la Ville de Luxembourg, 2021, p.46-51. Exhibition catalogue.

Laframboise, A. (2001). "Dérives et retours sur la question du Voyeurisme en art." Revue d’art contemporain ETC, (56), p.10-14.

Nowara, Malgorzata. Interview with Misch Da Leiden and Elvira Mechtold-Da Leiden. 25.11.2021. Personal Interview.

Raven, Achim. "Misch Da Leiden ist ein Klassiker." Da Leiden, Misch, Galerie Friedmann-Hahn (éd.). Misch Da Leiden: Bilder, die fehlten!: 20. März bis 28. April 2012. Berlin: Galerie Friedmann-Hahn, 2012. Exhibition catalogue.

Seifert, Oliver u. a. Œuvre : Misch Da Leiden. Esch-sur-Alzette: Galerie Schlassgoart, 2016. Exhibition catalogue.

Thill, Edmond. "Art et contestation au Luxembourg, 1967-1971." Arts et Lettres, n° 2, 2011, Institut Grand-Ducal du Luxembourg (éd.), p.146-189.

Zacher, Inge u. a. Bildwuchs: Misch Da Leiden. Düsseldorf: Stadtmuseum, 1987. Exhibition catalogue.