To them this was a form of liberation from the traumatised stupor of the post-war period and the corruption of the totalitarian system they had experienced. Informel is not so much a style as an artistic stance shared by the exponents of different abstract movements of the 1950s. Painters such as K. O. Götz, Gerhard Hoehme or Fred Thieler turned away from geometric abstraction, coming to visualise dynamic processes in their works, the gesture of the act of painting executed with the utmost concentration. In their struggle for immediacy and authenticity, they challenged the traditional concept of the image, encouraging the viewer to relive this experience.
Works of Informel art are the starting point of the private art collection of Peter and Veronika Monauni, whose emphasis continues to be placed on gestural, abstract painting. Since 2010, most of the collection has been on permanent loan to Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. The show draws on these holdings, honouring German Informel art and its milieu as an important movement of European post-war art.