Klaus Rinke

Klaus Rinke (29 April 1939 – 20 January 2026) was a German artist.

Life and work Born in Wattenscheid, Rinke trained as a decorative artist and poster painter in Gelsenkirchen from 1954 to 1957. After studying painting from 1957 to 1960 at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen,

From 1974 to 2004, Rinke was professor of sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Rinke was chairman of the Malkasten artists' association from 1993 to 1998, and has been an honorary member since 1998. In 2007, Rinke moved from Haan near Düsseldorf, where he had lived and worked for almost 30 years, to Neufelden in Austria.

Rinke died after a serious illness on 20 January 2026, at the age of 86.

Exhibitions Source: 1976: Museum Wiesbaden 1977: Biennale di Venezia, Venice 1977: documenta 6, Kassel 1985: Instrumentarium, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris 1992: Kunsthalle Düsseldorf 2006: Hagia Sophia Museum, Istanbul (Solo exhibition) 2011: Städel, Frankfurt 2016: The memories belong to me, Thomas Brambilla Gallery, Bergamo, Italy 2017: Solo Show, Art Basel Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland 2017: Derzeit, , Wuppertal 2017: Instrumentarium, The Nave, CCCOD Tours, France 2019: Die vierte Kraft, Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg

Awards 1972: