Der Hirt

Der hirt (The Shepherd) is a work by the German artist Neo Rauch (Leipzig, Germany, 1960). The figure represented is a recurring character in his work. It has been intervened on and represented at different times of his career and symbolises the shepherd dog that watches over and protects us. Neo Rauch, one of the most important contemporary painters in Europe, is the best-known of the artists of the Leipzig New School. It could be said that he is responsible for the renaissance of German painting at the end of the 20th century. His enigmatic compositions masterfully combine figurative imagery and surreal abstraction, placing a peculiar cast of human, animal, and hybrid beings in strange, dreamlike scenes.