Wols: Cosmos and Street

Better known as "Wols", the artist Otto Wolfgang Schulze (1913-1951) left his native Germany and his successful career as a photographer when the Nazis rose to power.

With the outbreak of world war two, Schulze moved continually between Paris, Barcelona and the Balearic islands before being detained for 14 months in a Nazi internment camp. It was here that he developed his first interest in ink drawings. After escaping from the camp he eventually ended up in the safety of south-east France, assuming the pseudonym Wols.

Although he died in France at the premature age of 38 — a death brought on by poor health, alcoholism and lack of funds to request medical care — Wols is considered one of the most influential exponents of the Tachisme movement, a French style of abstract expressionist painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Reina Sofia exhibition, which includes photographs, drawings, etchings, watercolours and oil paintings, is not in chronological order as Wols never dated or titled his pieces.

Mon, Wed, Sat 10.00-21.00. Sun 10.00-14.30