Hans Hinterreiter

• Name — Hans Hinterreiter • Born — 28 January 1902 • Birthplace — Winterthur, Switzerland • Died — 15 September 1989 • Place of death — Santa Eulalia del Río, Ibiza, Spain • Occupation — Painter, art theorist • Known for — Concrete art, colour theory

Hans Hinterreiter was born on 28 January 1902 in Winterthur. From 1920, he studied mathematics before switching soon afterwards to architecture at ETH Zürich. During his studies, he pursued art history and took piano and painting lessons. He also drew and painted with guidance from the landscape painter Wilhelm Ludwig Lehmann. From 1922 to 1924, he travelled in Italy, and in 1925 received his diploma in architecture before gaining practical experience in several architectural offices in Aarau and Bern. In 1929, Hinterreiter married Mina Sahn. From 1929 to 1935, he lived in Seelisberg, where he painted landscapes. He stayed in Spain from 1934 to 1936. After returning to Switzerland, he came into contact with Max Bill and Zürich artists associated with Concrete art in the later 1930s. His wife Mina died in 1939, and in the same year Hinterreiter moved permanently to Ibiza. He acquired a farm there in 1953. As a source of income, he designed holiday houses. He married Hanna Marie Elisabeth Ingeborg Bartels in 1963. In 1985, the Hans Hinterreiter Foundation was established in Vaduz. Hinterreiter died on 15 September 1989 in Santa Eulalia del Río, Ibiza.

Hinterreiter exhibited with the Swiss artists’ group Allianz in Zürich in 1942 and 1947. A 1973 exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Winterthur marked a stage in his later recognition. In 2018, the Fundación Juan March organised an exhibition of his work in collaboration with the Hans Hinterreiter Foundation, presenting around 75 works together with documents and publications related to his long-term study of colour and form.