PETER KEIL

Peter Keil painted himself a colourful world when the world around him lay in ruins.

Born in 1942, he grew up in a Berlin scarred by war. Destroyed buildings. Dark streets. A city carrying the wounds of destruction. Grey defined everyday life. Yet, as a child, he discovered something that would change his life: with colour, he could create a world of his own.

Small coloured pencils, left behind or given to him by American soldiers, became his beginning. On paper, he created what was missing outside: colour, joy and life. From that experience grew his lifelong mission: to make people happy through art.

Supported by his stepfather, whom he called his father, he travelled to Mallorca. There, he met Joan Miró, who became his mentor. They worked together for several years. This relationship shaped his artistic development and transformed the way he saw the world. Colour found new freedom. Forms opened new possibilities. Peter developed the courage to follow his own imagination.

In Spain, he also met Pablo Picasso. His journey brought him into an extraordinary era of art. Working with Miró and meeting Picasso became defining chapters of his life. From these influences, Peter Keil developed his own unmistakable visual language.

Powerful black lines. Brilliant colours. Faces full of personality. His figures laugh, marvel, dream and challenge the people looking at them. They carry the energy of an artist who discovered early how profoundly colour could change a person’s life.

Berlin, Mallorca, Paris, London and the United States became chapters of his journey. His imagination travelled with him. It found expression on canvases, in sculptures, on vases and across new surfaces. For Peter, a surface could become the beginning of another idea.

Today, he continues to work. He returns to ideas, develops forms and creates new pieces. His art continues to grow with his life.

What began with small coloured pencils among the traces of war became a lifetime of expression, freedom and colour.

Peter Keil’s mission continues: to create art that touches people. To bring joy into their homes. To make a moment brighter, just as colour once made his own world brighter.

Until his last breath, Peter Keil will pursue that mission: to make people happy through art.