Imi Knoebel (German, b.1940) is a painter and sculptor, born in Dessau. From 1962 to 1964, Knoebel attended the Werkkunstschule in Darmstadt, where he took courses in structural design and constructive composition, according to the ideas of the Bauhaus artists
Johannes Itten (Swiss, 1888–1967) and
Lászlo Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian, 1885–1946). There, he met Imi Giese in 1964. Together, the two transferred to the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie, where they both took a class with
Joseph Beuys (German, 1921–1986). Knoebel began to create analytical works, with an interplay of colors and forms. Together with a few fellow students, he formed a Minimalist Art movement.
Knoebel initially dealt mainly with line images, light projections, and white images, and took a strong reductionist position. Beginning in 1974, he began to use color. In the same decade, he experimented with superimposed colored wood and aluminum panels and slats, which he used in certain spatial relations to each other, creating scale sculptures.
Knoebel was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena in 2006. In 2011, he created several stained glass windows for the Reims Cathedral. He is the recipient of numerous art awards, and his works can be seen in exhibitions around the world.