Imi Knoebel – Reims

Brand new stained glass paintings by the great minimalist.

Sometimes art is also a political and historical gesture. In the case of Reims Cathedral, France’s coronation church, this statement can undoubtedly be answered in the affirmative: heavily destroyed by German troops in 1914, Germany gave France three new stained glass windows by the painter and installation artist Imi Knoebel (*1940 in Dessau) in 2015.

The “Minimal Artist”, who made the choir room shine with six stained glass windows on the occasion of the 800th anniversary in 2011, did not let go of his work in the sacred space. For three years he worked intensively on the furnishings of the Jeanne D’Arc Chapel. The result of his bright color combinations in the midst of the high Gothic architecture could not be more harmonious and at the same time more moving.

The publication illuminates the creative process of the glass facades and documents their creation from the first sketch to their installation in the cathedral in Reims.