BIOGRAPHY

Fritz Hagl was born on 17 August 1928 in Munich. He lived there until the age of fourteen, when his family moved to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. He trained as a painter and worked repeatedly with Heinrich Bickel, at the time the best-known “Lüftlmaler” (Bavarian façade fresco painter). He learned a great deal of craft from him, above all fresco technique. In the hard post-war years he supported the family – three siblings and his mother – with his painting, while his father was a prisoner of war in Russia.

From 1949 to 1950 he attended the Munich Academy of Fine Arts under Professor Hans Gött. From that period came colleagues and friends with whom he kept in contact until the end.

Many of his portraits were made between 1951 and 1954. From 1954 he took a studio in Munich-Schwabing. During this time he met his future wife. Together they travelled to Italy on a cultural journey. On the way back they stopped on the island of Elba, discovered the enchanting island and decided to fulfil his youthful dream and stay on Elba – following the old Chinese saying: “Build your own house, plant a tree and start a family.”

In three years he built a house and laid out a large garden. When his two daughters were a little older, he also acquired animals (hens, rabbits, ducks, peacocks, doves).

The harmonious life in these surroundings had become indispensable to him and was of great importance for his work. He had a strong relationship with the sea and bought himself a boat with which he could study his beloved rock formations. The foreign Mediterranean world was a lifelong challenge that stimulated his creative work.

An essential part of his life was classical music, jazz and every other kind of good music. His sister Ingrid Sertso, who is a jazz singer, often came to visit with her husband Karl Berger, who founded the “Creative Music Foundation” in Woodstock. His brother Klaus, who is a drummer and worked for a long time in Paris with renowned jazz musicians, had meanwhile moved to the island, and so a lively musical life arose in summer. For Fritz and his painting, music had become indispensable. He had always had a pronounced feeling for rhythm, and after an afternoon of painting he liked to sit down at the drums or pluck the African sansa. With Karl Berger, well-known musicians such as Steve Lacy, Dave Holland, Frédéric Rzewski, Butch Morris, Gerd Dudek and others often came to the island. This gave the painter a great deal of musical inspiration.

Fritz Hagl had the chance of a fulfilled existence and the opportunity to let many people share in his life. Even after his death in January 2002 his charisma was so strong that his house lost nothing of its attraction. To many he will remain forever unforgettable.