Farewell to Günther Uecker: A life full of light and art

Farewell to Günther Uecker: A life full of light and art

In the Schwerin Cathedral, a moving funeral service for the renowned object artist Günther Uecker took place on Saturday, who died in Düsseldorf on June 10, 2025 at the age of 95. Over 200 people took part in the farewell, including prominent personalities such as former Federal President Joachim Gauck and Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig. Uecker leaves an impressive legacy that can be found in its striking nail reliefs and installations.

Günther Uecker was born on March 13, 1930 in Wendorf, Mecklenburg, and spent many years on the idyllic Baltic Sea Peninsula Wustrow. After he fled the West from the GDR in 1953, he settled in Düsseldorf, where he worked as a professor at the art academy from 1974. However, his career began early on with artistic beginnings that recorded in Wismar in 1949. He became known primarily through the integration of nails into his works and his preoccupation with light and optical phenomena, activity that made him the pioneer of zero art, an important part of German post-war art. His glass sculptures and the windows in the Schwerin cathedral, which are described as legacy and sign of faith

a moving inheritance

his life was shaped by the examination of human existence, as he addressed it in his exhibition "The Designed People". In this, Uecker showed the violation of humans by humans in an impressive way. Despite health restrictions, he even traveled to Tajikistan to the vernissage of an exhibition in May 2023. This testifies to its tireless creativity and commitment to art until the end of his life.

The last major contribution to the Schwerin Cathedral is particularly noteworthy: in 2024, his four glass windows are to be inaugurated, which will shine on about 62 square meters in an impressive blue light. A total of 130 glass fields will merge into a unique work of art. Uecker had already developed the designs for these windows personally in 2017 and was present there at a service, which underlines the deeper connection to his work. State bishop Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt then commented on the importance of these windows for the church and the community.

a life for art

Uecker, who also took part in numerous international exhibitions, was not only a recognized artist, but also an impetus for dialogue in the art world. He acted actively against war, oppression and forgetting. His work is exhibited in around 60 countries and represented in important collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Center Pompidou in Paris.

Its influence extends far beyond the limits of fine art, and his ability to move the world with a nail, as Schwesig noted in her speech, is remembered. The bells also ringed in Rerik to commemorate his merits and his work, because Uecker had contributed to the completion of the ringing in 2013.

Günther Uecker's unique contribution to art and society will remain unforgettable. His legacy lives on in his works and in the hearts of the people he touched.

Further information on Günther Uecker can be found in the reports of Haller Kreisblatt and and Deutschlandfunk as well as on wikipedia.