Karl Stengel
About
Karl Stengel (1925–2017) was a Hungarian post-war artist whose work reflects a lifelong dedication to art as a form of emotional and philosophical expression. His prolific body of paintings and works on paper are noted for their highly expressive style, blending abstraction with representational figures to create compositions that are both lyrical and enigmatic. Through this distinctive visual language, Stengel’s work explores the inner world of human experience, deeply rooted in the historical and cultural landscape of the 20th century.
Born in Novi Sad, Stengel’s formative years were profoundly marked by the upheavals of World War II. He spent time as a soldier and later as a prisoner of war in a Siberian Gulag. Remarkably, it was here that he staged his first exhibition: when a prison officer saw him drawing with charcoal on a cement bag, he provided Stengel with paper and pencils to create portraits of himself and his fellow officers.
After returning to Hungary after the war, Stengel pursued his passion for art by training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, amid the growing political climate of Soviet influence. Following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Stengel fled his homeland and continued his training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, graduating in 1961. This move immersed him in the vibrant European arts scene and granted him the freedom and independence that would drive his artistic trajectory. Here, he developed his signature style characterised by dynamic brushwork, introspective motifs and a vivid colour palette – a stark contrast to the Socialist Realism style that had been mandated by the Communist Party.
Across large abstract canvases, smaller figurative drawings and mixed media compositions, Stengel’s work has often drawn comparison with other European and American traditions. These include Abstract Expressionism, Art Informel and German Expressionism, which he absorbed during his extensive travels throughout the 1960s. His work also resonates with the existential themes of many postwar artists: solitary figures, haunting faces and doorway-like shapes recur throughout his work, evoking inner landscapes of memory and self-reflection, and echoing his own experiences of exile, isolation and trauma.
From the 1970s onwards, Stengel began to teach Print Graphics at the Volkshochschule in Munich, while honing his artistic versatility across different phases and formats, such as graphic colour works, pastels and engravings. He also exhibited regularly in Munich: these included a collaboration with a blacksmith to create two large sculptures for Skulpturenstraße in 1983, and a series of illustrations of Boccaccio’s Decameron and Ungaretti’s Frammenti with the Institute of Italian Culture in 1984.
Throughout his career, Stengel’s work was deeply enriched by his passion for other creative forms, evident in the musical and theatrical nature of his compositions. He drew inspiration from his Hungarian heritage, which he revisited in 1965, such as the modern poetry of Attila József, as well as the folk-inspired music of Béla Bartók, which he sometimes listened to while painting. He also highlighted the importance of visual artists like Matisse, Twombly and Marino Marini, and his work incorporates lines of poetry and titles that pay homage to literary figures such as Blaise Cendrars, Charles Bukowski and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Music scores and book pages served as collaged surfaces for many of his drawings and paintings, adding layers of personal and cultural meaning.
Through the 1990s and 2000s, Stengel was featured in solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Mexico, Romania and Italy. He divided his time between Munich and Tuscany, continuing to create art. He exhibited at Personal Structures, a collateral event of the Venice Biennale in 2015 with the European Cultural Centre, as well as galleries such as Galerie Adriano Ribolzi, Monaco in 2016. In 2015, he was awarded the GemlucArt prize honouring contemporary artists of exceptional skill and contribution (past winners include Liu Bolin, Sacha Jafri and Jean-Pierre Raynaud). He passed away in 2017.
Today, the Karl Stengel Collection in Florence is dedicated to preserving and advancing his legacy. Established in 2017, it aims to drive new dialogue around his art, and acts as a resource for the discovery of his unsung work.
EXHIBITIONS
2025 Art Atlanta, USA, P FINE ART Gallery
2025 Art on Paper New York, USA, P FINE ART Gallery
2025 Over Time, Solo exhibition, Veranda Gallery, in Haikou, China
2025 Over Time, Solo exhibition, Systema Gallery, Osaka, Japan
2025 Knokke Art Fair, Belgium, Galleria Immaginaria
2025 Positions Berlin Art Fair, Germany, Galleria Immaginaria
2025 Solo exhibition gallery@oxo, London, UK
2025 Roma, Arte in Nuvola, Italy, Galleria Immaginaria
2025 Solo exhibition MACQ Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Querétaro, Mexico
2024 Solo exhibition, Artium Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
2024 ARCO Lisboa, Portugal
2024 L’emporio della scultura, Galleria Immaginaria – Florence, Italy
2024 Di Segno in diSegno Accademia delle Arti e del Disegno di Firenze, Italy
2023 SCOPE ART FAIR Miami, USA
2023 Affordable Art Fair NYC fall edition – Camilla Stengel works created in collaboration with Karl Stengel
2023 ALMA sculpture park – Almacelles, Spain
2023 P FINE ART Gallery, Atlanta USA
2022 SCOPE ART FAIR Miami, USA
2022 Solo exhibition, De la figuración a la abstracción del Maestro Karl Stengel – Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo – Santa Marta, Colombia
2022 Solo exhibition – Tra figurazione e astrazione – Pinacoteca Comunale di Gaeta, Italy
2022 ART BUSAN – South Korea
2022 Solo exhibition IGONG Gallery – Daejeon South Korea
2022 Solo exhibition Galeria de la Academia Interamericana de Derechos Umanos, Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico
2021 Positions Berlin
2021 Art Market Budapest
2021 Art Fair Vilnius
2021 Discovery Art Fair, Frankfurt
2021 Begemot Art & Fashion Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2021 Solo exhibition Casa de la Cultura Gómez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
2020-2021 Solo exhibition Accademia d’Ungheria, Rome, Italy
2020 WopArt Fair online, Lugano
2020 Solo exhibition Museo Guillermo Ceniceros – Durango, Mexico
2020 Art Fair ArtVilnius
2020 Positions Berlin
2019 OpenArtCode Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum – Tokyo, Japan
2019 KIAF 2019, Seoul, South Korea
2019 Top of Art Basel, in the context of Art Basel – Basel, Switzerland
2019 OpenArtCode Geneva, Studio Art Unlimited – Geneva, Switzerland
2019 Punti di Vista – Hermann Nitsch / Karl Stengel Galleria Zetaeffe – Florence, Italy
2019 Americans in Florence, Collezione Stengel, Palazzo Rosselli del Turco – Florence, Italy
2018 Solo exhibition, Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo – Santa Marta, Colombia
2018 Solo exhibition, Museo Sant’Agostino – Genoa, Italy
2018 Solo exhibition. Disegni, Galleria Zetaeffe – Florence, Italy
2018 OpenArtCode Florence, Basilica di San Lorenzo – Florence, Italy
2017 OpenArtCode Cannes, Gare Maritime de Cannes – Cannes, France
2017 Solo exhibition, Collezione Stengel, Palazzo Rosselli del Turco – Florence, Italy
2017 ArtTime – Udine, Italy
2016 OpenArtCode Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum – Tokyo, Japan
2016 500 l’estetica dell’arte in un unico prezzo – Galleria Immaginaria – Florence, Italy
2016 Solo exhibition Palazzo Loredan, Venice, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti
2016 GemlucArt Monaco, Auditorium Rainier III – Principality of Monaco
2016 Solo exhibition Galerie Ribolzi – Principality of Monaco
2015 GemlucArt Monaco – Principality of Monaco
2015 Personal Structures in the context of the Venice Biennale, Palazzo Mora – Venice, Italy
2015 Palazzo Medici Riccardi – Florence, Italy
2014 Art Fusion Galleries – Miami, USA
2014 Immaginaria Arti Visive – Basel, Switzerland
2014 Galerie C.C. Paul – Karlsruhe, Germany
2013 Galleria Pentart – Rome, Italy
2013 Galleria Immaginaria, Art International – Zurich, Switzerland
2012 Curtea de Argeș – Romania
2012 OpenArtCode Paris – Paris, France
2012 WAV Party – Madrid, Spain
2012 OpenArtCode Gallery, Galerie Mona Lisa – Paris, France
2011 Karl Stengel at the San Lorenzo church – Florence, Italy
2011 WorldArtVision Barcelona – Barcelona, Spain
2010 Solo exhibition Studio Abba Florence, Italy
2009 Galleria 9 Colonne – Bologna, Italy
2009 Omaggio a Tristano – Galleria D’ARS – Milan, Italy
2009 Galeria Artemis – Cracow, Poland
2009 Broadway Gallery – New York, USA
2008 WorldArtVision Cancun – Cancun, Mexico
2008 Art Action, Comune di Novara – Novara, Italy
2008 Galeria Zapiecek – Warsaw, Polonia
2007 Auditorio Comunale – Montevarchi, Italy
2006 Art Forum – Berlin, Germany
2006 Galleri SG – Trondheim, Norway
2005 Galleria Gio-Art – Lucca, Italy
2004 Laboratorio delle Arti – Piacenza, Italy
2003 Galleria Gnaccarini – Bologna, Italy
2003 La Filanda – Loro Ciuffenna, Italy
2003 Galerie Hagenring – Hagen, Germany
2003 Artisti in Fiera – Parma, Italy
2002 ideArte Gruppo del vento – Cascina, Pisa, Italy
2001 Galleria Comunale San Ludovico – Parma, Italy
1999 Staatsoper Temesvar – Romania
1997 Altre Luci – San Giustino Valdarno, Italy
1997 Gallery Howell – Jonesboro, USA
1995 ‘Il Finto e il non Finto’ Lido Morini/Karl Stengel, Auditorium Comunale Montevarchi – Italy
1992 Galerie Vigny – München, Germany
1984 Italienisches Kulturinstitut – München, Germany
1985 Giovanni Battista – Florence, Italy
1983 Skulpturen Straße – München, Germany
1983 Galerie C.C.Paul – München, Germany
1982 Galerie Sommerhausen, Sommerhausen
1981 Galerie C.C.Paul – München, Germany
1980 Galerie C.C. Paul – München, Germany
1979 Galerie Marsyas – München, Germany
1978 Galerie ‘N’ – München, Germany
1976 Galerie Bessler – Stuttgart, Germany
1976 Haus Hufenbach – Donauwörth, Germany
1974 Senatsgalerie – Berlin, Germany
1972 Hollerhaus – Irschenhausen, Germany
1970 Elche, Alicante, Spain