The Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck is dedicating a major exhibition to Gotthard Graubner (1930–2013), one of the most important abstract painters of our age.

Gotthard Graubner maintained close ties to the Bahnhof Rolandseck from the 1970s onwards. Like numerous other artists, he valued, breathed life into and left his mark on this special location.The show's point of departure is ten extraordinary black-and-white photographs of dancing monks from the Whangdue Phodrang monastery that he took while in Bhutan in 1976 and that are now part of the museum's collection.

Following Graubner's interest in Buddhism, the atmosphere of the exhibition is permeated by this theme. Such formal elements as transparence, lightness and penetration as well as color surface as a living organism all play a role. This is evident not only in the impressive Farbraumkörper [Color Space Bodies] but also in the artist's print works. Biographical notes, such as the body prints in the portfolio Simulacrum from 1978, bring Graubner's authorship vividly to light.

The approximately 50 works allow visitors to trace his development from a muted palette to a veritable ecstasy of colors, to silently immerse themselves in the color spaces, and to – as intended by the artist himself – "breath together with the pictures".