Between two Worlds–Bettina Heinen-Ayech

Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937–2020) was the daughter of the journalist and poet Hanns Heinen and Erna Heinen-Steinhoff. The latter founded an art and literature salon in the 'Black House' Artists' Colony. She grew up in a free-spirited and intellectual environment in Solingen, where feelings and thoughts played a special role. Considered a childhood prodigy, Bettina Heinen-Ayech was the most important painter of the Solingen Artists‘ Colony. Encouraged from an early age by her teacher, Erwin Bowien, she sold her first painting at the age of 13, after which she accompanied the artists of the Solingen Artists‘ Colony, “Black House”, throughout Europe. At the age of 18, she participated in the first major international art exhibition of the Federal Republic of Germany: the 1955 exhibition Deutsche Kunst der Gegenwart (Contemporary German Art), alongside renowned artists such as Käthe Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.

After studying art at the Cologne Werkschulen, the Munich Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, she was invited to Cairo in 1962 for a major exhibition of her work. This was followed by a six-month stay at the Winter Academy in Luxor. In Egypt, she experienced the glaring sun of the south. She decided to move to North Africa, more precisely to Guelma in eastern Algeria, a small town in the Atlas Mountains, the homeland of her Algerian husband.

Her first name, Bettina, serves as her signature and established artist name, symbolising the clarity and exceptional quality of her work. She paints what she sees with passion, spontaneity and great honesty towards herself and her subjects. Nothing is artistically contrived. She painted what she saw and how she saw it uncompromisingly. She developed her own independent post-Impressionist artistic style incorporating expressive elements, which deserves its place in the art world.

During her 60 years of creative work in Algeria, she became a legendary figure known throughout the country as “Madame Bettina” However, her regular visits to the Artists’ Colony in Solingen meant that she never lost touch with her roots. Until her death in 2020, she divided her time between Algeria and Solingen. Bettina Heinen-Ayech leaves behind a magnificent and diverse body of work. It is the life's work of an emancipated woman, a great artist, and someone who moved between worlds.

The exhibition Between two Worlds–Bettina Heinen-Ayech presents numerous works by the painter and her view of the world. Visit this special exhibition at the Municipal Gallery in Schwalenberg from July 6, 2025 to September 7, 2025, opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 2pm to 5:30pm.

Further information about the exhibition and the Solingen Artists' Colony is available from:

Bettina Heinen-Ayech Foundation, Dr Haroun Ayech, T +49 (0)151 42221142, mail [at] bettina-heinen-ayech-foundation.com, bettina-heinen-ayech-foundation.com or Landesverband Lippe, Lippische Kulturagentur, Dr. Mayarí Granados, m.granados [at] landesverband-lippe.de.

In cooperation with the town of Schieder-Schwalenberg.

Events
Bettina Heinen-Ayech—From Solingen to the Orient: January 25–May 11
Kunstverein Coburg e. V., Park 4a, 96450 Coburg, Germany

Erwin Bowien—Nostalgia for Egmond: April 4–November 2
Exhibition at the Egmond Museum, Zuiderstraat 7, Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands

Longing for distant shores—The Solingen Artists’ Colony: May 18–June 29
Exhibition at the Museum Villa Stahmer in Georgsmarienhütte, Carl-Stahmer-Weg 13, 49124 Georgsmarienhütte, Germany

The flair of plain air—The Blach House Solingen—a German Artists’ Colony: October 15–November 16
Exhibition in the A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan