A life shaped by colour
Peter Keil’s memories, from post-war childhood to artistic independence.
An editorial summary of Martin Breuninger’s biographical interview, conducted on Mallorca in August 2017 and published by Keil Collection Heidelberg.
Finding a way into painting
In the interview, Peter Keil recalls early displacement, life with his grandparents in Potsdam and the move to Berlin-Wedding. Art books and his first attempts at drawing offered a different world from the streets around him.
Teachers, encounters, freedom
Otto Nagel taught him technique and close observation. Keil remembers winter visits to Mallorca, his friendship with Joan Miró and brief encounters with Pablo Picasso. Berlin’s artists, bars and neighbourhoods, followed by time in Paris and London, helped him move towards a more personal language.
Painting through life
Breuninger’s account follows family life, bereavement and the eventual return to painting. It also records Keil’s recollections of David Bowie and Andy Warhol. Across these changes, the artist describes a lasting need to create freely, whether on canvas, paper or painted objects.
Source: Martin Breuninger, biographical interview, Keil Collection Heidelberg, 2017. This page is a summary, not a transcript. Photographs are contextual images from the artist’s archive.