{"id":6249,"date":"2026-10-15T16:40:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T14:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/?p=6249"},"modified":"2026-10-15T17:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T15:03:07","slug":"grupo-ibiza-59-five-years-that-transformed-art-in-ibiza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/en\/personalities\/grupo-ibiza-59-five-years-that-transformed-art-in-ibiza\/","title":{"rendered":"Grupo Ibiza 59: Five Years That Transformed Art in Ibiza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Long before Ibiza became internationally synonymous with electronic music, big nightclubs, and luxury tourism, the island was already attracting a different kind of traveler. Painters, architects, writers, and intellectuals arrived in search of something that was becoming scarce in Europe\u2019s major cities: time, seclusion, a relatively inexpensive lifestyle, and a landscape that seemed far removed from the established cultural hubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">From that atmosphere, Grupo Ibiza 59 was born in 1959, initially consisting of nine artists residing on the island: Erwin Broner, Erwin Bechtold, Hans Laabs, Katja Meirowsky, Robert \u201cBob\u201d Munford, Egon Neubauer, Antonio Ruiz, Bertil Sj\u00f6berg, and Heinz Tr\u00f6kes. Later, other artists would become associated with the group, including Carlos Sansegundo, Bob Thompson, and Pierre Haubensak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Title-Gupo-59-Photo-Julio-Herranz.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Title-Gupo-59-Photo-Julio-Herranz-1024x641.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Title-Gupo-59-Photo-Julio-Herranz-1024x641.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Title-Gupo-59-Photo-Julio-Herranz-300x188.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Title-Gupo-59-Photo-Julio-Herranz-768x481.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Title-Gupo-59-Photo-Julio-Herranz-350x219.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Title-Gupo-59-Photo-Julio-Herranz.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowski.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"785\" data-id=\"6237\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowski-1024x785.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowski-1024x785.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowski-300x230.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowski-767x588.webp 767w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowski-349x268.webp 349w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowski.webp 1068w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Robert-Munford-Ibiza-59.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"511\" data-id=\"6239\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Robert-Munford-Ibiza-59.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Robert-Munford-Ibiza-59.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Robert-Munford-Ibiza-59-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Robert-Munford-Ibiza-59-350x447.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Portrait.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"401\" data-id=\"6238\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Portrait.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Portrait.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Portrait-224x300.png 224w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#5a5d5e;font-size:12px\">Top row (from left to right): Erwin Broner, Erwin Bechtold, Hans Laabs, Katja Meirowsky, and Antonio Ruiz. Photo: Julio Herranz. \/ Bottom row (from left to right): Katja Meirowski, Bob Munford, Heinz Tr\u00f6kes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The name can be misleading. Grupo Ibiza 59 was not an art school with specific rules, nor did it produce a style that is immediately recognizable from one painting to another. Nor was there a manifesto outlining how the art should be interpreted. Its members came from different countries and followed their own artistic paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">They did, however, share common ground: abstraction and an interest in experimenting with form, material, and texture, even though each artist approached this from a very different artistic language. What also united them was a practical need: the necessity to create a space where contemporary art could be exhibited, discussed, and connected\u2014both within Ibiza and with the outside world. On an island with no museum of contemporary art and very few institutions dedicated to the avant-garde, the group organized exhibitions, forged connections, designed posters and invitations, and built a small, international cultural network. In a sense, that network was their true collective work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">An Ibiza still far from mass tourism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Grupo Ibiza 59 emerged at a peculiar moment in Spanish history. In 1959, Spain remained under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, although its international isolation was slowly beginning to ease. At the same time, Spanish abstract art was gaining recognition abroad. Artists such as Antoni T\u00e0pies, Antonio Saura, Manolo Millares, and Eduardo Chillida were beginning to participate in international exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">However, Ibiza was still even further removed from the country\u2019s political and cultural centers. The transformation into a tourist destination had begun, but the island remained relatively poor, and daily life there bore little resemblance to the Ibiza that would emerge over the following decades. It was precisely these conditions\u2014isolation, affordable prices, and a small community\u2014that proved attractive to many foreigners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Some artists had arrived even before the Civil War, as was the case with writer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/en\/personalities\/walter-benjamins-lost-island\/\">Walter Benjamin<\/a><\/strong> or dadaist artist <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/en\/personalities\/raoul-hausmann-and-his-refuge-in-ibiza\/\">Raoul Hausmann<\/a><\/strong>. After World War II, another wave began. For many Europeans, Ibiza offered not only a Mediterranean landscape but also a certain distance from a continent that had just endured decades of wars, dictatorships, and destruction. That same appeal\u2014an affordable lifestyle, a certain freedom, and the feeling of being on the fringes of Europe\u2014would resurface shortly thereafter with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/en\/culture\/ibizas-beatnik-days\/\">the arrival of the beatniks in Ibiza<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">And, surprisingly, there was already an interested audience. In the summer of 1957, two years before the founding of Ibiza 59, the Sala Tanit welcomed 5,530 visitors between July and September. Fifty-eight artists exhibited a total of 614 works there, of which approximately one-third were sold. For a small island still in the early stages of its development as a tourist destination, these figures reveal a cultural scene that was considerably more active than one might imagine today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><br>El Corsario: the starting point in Dalt Vila<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">At the heart of that small art scene was El Corsario, a hotel-restaurant located in Dalt Vila that also became an exhibition space. The gallery, which opened in the 1950s, brought together foreign and local artists from the very beginning and would go on to become one of the key venues in Ibiza\u2019s cultural life at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Extracto-Postal-Ibiza-1959.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"629\" height=\"467\" data-id=\"6236\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Extracto-Postal-Ibiza-1959.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Extracto-Postal-Ibiza-1959.png 629w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Extracto-Postal-Ibiza-1959-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Extracto-Postal-Ibiza-1959-349x259.png 349w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/El-Corsario-Ibiza_1950.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"836\" height=\"471\" data-id=\"6199\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/El-Corsario-Ibiza_1950.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/El-Corsario-Ibiza_1950.png 836w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/El-Corsario-Ibiza_1950-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/El-Corsario-Ibiza_1950-767x432.png 767w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/El-Corsario-Ibiza_1950-350x197.png 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#5a5d5e;font-size:12px\">Left: postcard of Dalt Vila (1959) \/ Right: old photograph of El Corsario<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 1958, Emil Schillinger, then head of El Corsario, proposed to Erwin Bechtold that they organize contemporary art exhibitions there. But Bechtold did not want to serve as gallery director or find himself in the position of deciding which colleagues deserved to exhibit and which did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The solution, then, was to create an association of artists who recognized one another\u2019s work and shared the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">When Erwin Broner returned permanently to Ibiza in 1959, the project took shape. Broner drafted the founding document and became one of the collective\u2019s main driving forces, although the group was intended to operate on a horizontal basis: each artist maintained their independence while also collaborating on the organization of the exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">There was something of a family-run business about it. Antonio Ruiz handled much of the gallery\u2019s day-to-day operations; Munford and Bechtold designed graphic materials; Laabs helped with the installation; and Broner\u2014who was both an architect and a painter\u2014adapted the space. Furthermore, El Corsario didn\u2019t just exhibit works by the group\u2019s members: it also featured works and guest artists from other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In a city without an established arts infrastructure, printing an invitation, properly setting up an exhibition, or getting a foreign artist to send their works to Ibiza was no small feat and held significant importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">Nine artists, nine ways of understanding modern art<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The best way to understand Ibiza 59 is to look at its members individually. In part, their differences explain the group better than any attempt to identify a common style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Erwin Broner<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Erwin Broner was probably the group\u2019s central figure. A German painter and architect of Jewish descent, he had left Germany after the Nazis came to power and first visited Ibiza in 1933. During that stay, he was fascinated by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/en\/architecture\/the-ibiza-finca-a-guide-to-ibizas-traditional-rural-home\/\">the island\u2019s traditional rural houses<\/a><\/strong>: seemingly simple buildings, constructed according to practical needs, the climate, and available materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"509\" data-id=\"6204\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin_Casa_Marcet.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin_Casa_Marcet.jpeg 750w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin_Casa_Marcet-300x204.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin_Casa_Marcet-349x237.jpeg 349w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"697\" height=\"530\" data-id=\"6205\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin-Sin-titulo-tinta-china.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin-Sin-titulo-tinta-china.jpeg 697w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin-Sin-titulo-tinta-china-350x266.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Broner-Erwin-Sin-titulo-tinta-china-300x228.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 697px) 100vw, 697px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#5a5d5e;font-size:12px\">Works by Broner: Left: Casa Marcet (1968) \/ Right: \u201cUntitled\u201d (1962) &#8211; India ink and collage on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Broner had been trained within the German modernist architectural movement, and his approach was closely aligned with the Bauhaus, rationalism, and later, Le Corbusier. In Ibiza, he discovered that rural architecture had arrived, through a completely different path, at some of the solutions that modern architects were consciously seeking: simplicity, functionality, and the absence of unnecessary ornamentation. This dialogue between international modernism and Ibizan tradition would define much of his architecture. His own <em>Casa Broner<\/em>, built in the <em>Sa Penya<\/em> neighborhood in 1960, remains one of the finest examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">As a painter, however, he could be far less rational. He worked with abstraction, collage, ink, and various materials, with a freedom reminiscent of European Abstract Expressionism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Erwin Bechtold<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Erwin Bechtold first arrived in Ibiza in 1954 after spending time in Paris and Barcelona. He had trained as a printer and typographer, an experience that shaped his sensibility for composition and also allowed him to pursue a long career as a graphic designer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Untitled-1962-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"506\" data-id=\"6209\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Untitled-1962-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Untitled-1962-1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Untitled-1962-1-350x354.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Untitled-1962-1-296x300.jpg 296w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"406\" height=\"559\" data-id=\"6208\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Barcelona-1984_75.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Barcelona-1984_75.jpg 406w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Barcelona-1984_75-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Erwin-Bechtold-Barcelona-1984_75-349x481.jpg 349w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#5a5d5e;font-size:12px\">Works by Bechtold: Left: \u201cUntitled\u201d (1962). Mixed media on paper \/ Right: \u201cBarcelona\u201d (1984). Color lithograph on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">His painting from those years was close to Informalism: textural surfaces, splashes of color, organic forms, and free gestures. Over time, he evolved toward a much more geometric and controlled artistic language, in which he explored seemingly simple elements\u2014the edge of a surface, an angle, an interrupted plane\u2014until they became the focus of his work. Bechtold\u2019s career path encapsulates the freedom of the Ibiza 59 Group quite well: not even its own members maintained throughout their careers the artistic language with which they had first joined the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Katja Meirowsky<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Katja Meirowsky\u2019s life story is perhaps the most extraordinary of the group. Born in 1920, she studied art in Berlin and, during the Nazi era, was involved with resistance circles. For a time, she had to live in hiding. After the war, she helped found <em>Die Badewanne<\/em>, an experimental cabaret featuring artists in postwar, war-torn Berlin. In the early 1950s, she settled in Ibiza, where she would live for nearly half a century, until returning to Germany around the year 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"723\" height=\"506\" data-id=\"6210\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Pause-1947.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Pause-1947.jpg 723w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Pause-1947-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Pause-1947-349x244.jpg 349w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"784\" height=\"574\" data-id=\"6211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Buhnenbild-1957.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Buhnenbild-1957.jpg 784w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Buhnenbild-1957-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Buhnenbild-1957-768x562.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Katja-Meirowsky-Buhnenbild-1957-350x256.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#5a5d5e;font-size:12px\">Works by Meirowsky: Left: \u201cPause\u201d (1947). Oil on cardboard. \/ Right: \u201cB\u00fchnenbild\u201d (1957). Gouache on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Her painting is difficult to pigeonhole into a single category. She worked with abstraction, geometry, collage, and forms that seem to oscillate between landscapes, stage sets, and imaginary structures. In some works, there is a recognizable reference to nature; in others, space seems to have become a mental construct. Her training and interest in stage design are also evident in compositions reminiscent of stage sets, curtains, or theatrical spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Hans Laabs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The German artist Hans Laabs had arrived in Ibiza in the early 1950s and, for decades, divided his time between Berlin and the island. His painting moved freely between figuration and abstraction: figures, interiors, still lifes, and seascapes could be simplified until they were reduced almost entirely to color and form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"263\" data-id=\"6214\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Hans-Laabs-Komposition-in-Schwarz-und-Gelb-1961.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6214\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"367\" data-id=\"6215\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Hans-Laabs-Ohne-Titel.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Hans-Laabs-Ohne-Titel.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Hans-Laabs-Ohne-Titel-349x256.jpg 349w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Hans-Laabs-Ohne-Titel-300x220.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:12px\">Works by Laabs: Left: \u201cKomposition in Schwarz und Gelb\u201d (1961). Oil on coarse-textured canvas. \/ Right: \u201cUntitled\u201d (1978). Acrylic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike other postwar artists who embraced a much more austere form of abstraction, Laabs\u2019s work often exhibits a sense of lightness and a highly personal use of color. He himself acknowledged the influence that his long stays in the Mediterranean had had on his perception of color. As he described it, Ibiza physically entered his paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Robert \u201cBob\u201d Munford<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The American Bob Munford brought a different sensibility to the group. He had arrived in the Pitiusas in the mid-1950s after studying in the United States and shifted from a style of painting close to Abstract Expressionism toward increasingly graphic images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-7 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"342\" height=\"431\" data-id=\"6217\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/robert-munford-number-5-1960.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/robert-munford-number-5-1960.jpg 342w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/robert-munford-number-5-1960-238x300.jpg 238w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"439\" height=\"575\" data-id=\"6218\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/robert-munford-portrait-of-walker-1971.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/robert-munford-portrait-of-walker-1971.jpg 439w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/robert-munford-portrait-of-walker-1971-229x300.jpg 229w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/robert-munford-portrait-of-walker-1971-350x458.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 439px) 100vw, 439px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:12px\">Works by Munford: Left: \u201cNumber 5\u201d (1960). Gouache and ink on paper. \/ Right: \u201cPortrait of Walker\u201d (1971). Mixed media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Numbers, writing, silhouettes, diagrams, photographs, and repeated forms began to appear in his works. This visual vocabulary brought him early on into contact with something that would soon be identified as Pop Art. While many of his peers remained primarily connected to the European avant-garde, Munford indirectly introduced another artistic dialogue: the one unfolding on the other side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Heinz Tr\u00f6kes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Heinz Tr\u00f6kes was already an artist with significant international experience when he arrived in Ibiza. He had studied with Johannes Itten\u2014one of the key figures associated with the Bauhaus\u2014and his career had been hindered during the Nazi era. After the war, he became a leading figure in German abstract art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-8 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"420\" height=\"443\" data-id=\"6219\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Mars-1948.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Mars-1948.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Mars-1948-350x369.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Mars-1948-284x300.jpg 284w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"584\" data-id=\"6221\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Rebus-1970-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Rebus-1970-1.jpg 468w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Rebus-1970-1-349x436.jpg 349w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heinz-Troekes-Rebus-1970-1-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:12px\">Works by Heinz Tr\u00f6kes: Left: \u201cAm Mars\u201d (1948). Oil on canvas. \/ Right: \u201cRebus\u201d (1970). Color silkscreen on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">His paintings combined abstraction with elements reminiscent of maps, symbols, organisms, or imaginary landscapes. They were not depictions of the visible world, nor were they cold geometry: they seemed to depict territories that existed only within the painting itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Tr\u00f6kes settled in Ibiza in the early 1950s and brought to the group connections with a generation of European artists who had directly experienced the cultural rupture caused by Nazism and the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Egon Neubauer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Egon Neubauer, born in Magdeburg in 1920, had studied under the painter Bernhard D\u00f6rries and, as early as 1949, won one of the first postwar art prizes awarded by the city of Hanover. He worked not only as a painter but also in printmaking, textiles, and sculpture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-9 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"303\" data-id=\"6223\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Abstract-Composition.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Abstract-Composition.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Abstract-Composition-350x265.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Abstract-Composition-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"430\" height=\"338\" data-id=\"6224\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Woman-with-blue-scarf.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Woman-with-blue-scarf.jpg 430w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Woman-with-blue-scarf-300x236.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Egon-Neubauer-Woman-with-blue-scarf-350x275.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 430px) 100vw, 430px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:12px\">Works by Neubauer: Left: \u201cAbstract Composition\u201d (1960). Print on paper. \/ Right: \u201cWoman with Blue Scarf\u201d (undated). Oil on canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He moved temporarily to Ibiza in 1954 and later joined Ibiza 59. His presence serves as a reminder of just how closely that artistic community was connected to Germany\u2019s postwar cultural reconstruction: several of its members had personally experienced Nazism, the war, exile, or the destruction of their cities before finding themselves on a Mediterranean island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Antonio Ruiz<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Antonio Ruiz was a ceramist in the founding group and one of the few Spaniards in the group. Born in Soria, he had studied in Madrid and trained at the National School of Ceramics before settling in Ibiza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Antonio-Ruiz-Grupo-59.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"880\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Antonio-Ruiz-Grupo-59.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Antonio-Ruiz-Grupo-59.jpg 880w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Antonio-Ruiz-Grupo-59-348x196.jpg 348w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Antonio-Ruiz-Grupo-59-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Antonio-Ruiz-Grupo-59-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:12px\">Antonio Ruiz (right) next to several of his ceramic pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">His importance was not limited to his own work. Ruiz was one of those figures capable of making a cultural scene thrive: he directed the El Corsario gallery and played an active role in organizing exhibitions and events. Ceramics also introduced a different dimension to a collective dominated by painters: an interest in abstraction, material, and form did not have to be confined to the surface of a canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px\">Bertil Sj\u00f6berg<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The Swede Bertil Sj\u00f6berg rounded out that extraordinarily international group. Having been educated in Scandinavia and other European centers, he had been exposed to modern French painting at an early age and maintained a long-standing connection with the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-10 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"560\" data-id=\"6229\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoeberg_Stillleben-1949.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoeberg_Stillleben-1949.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoeberg_Stillleben-1949-300x233.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoeberg_Stillleben-1949-350x272.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"643\" height=\"468\" data-id=\"6228\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoberg-Metamorphose-1984.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoberg-Metamorphose-1984.jpg 643w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoberg-Metamorphose-1984-300x218.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Bertil-Sjoberg-Metamorphose-1984-349x254.jpg 349w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 643px) 100vw, 643px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#5a5d5e;font-size:12px\">Works by Sj\u00f6berg: Left: \u201cStilleben\u201d (1949). Oil on canvas. \/ Right: \u201cMetamorfose\u201d (1984). Mixed media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">His work included painting and drawing, with a particular focus on ink and wash. In later works, such as his <em>Tanit Series<\/em>, abstraction blends with references that seem to allude to forms, symbols, and associations with the island itself. In his work, as in that of several of his peers, Ibiza does not necessarily appear as a literally depicted landscape, but rather as a territory that slowly transforms into a visual language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Viewed one after another, it is difficult to imagine that these nine artists could have signed a joint manifesto. Broner approached abstraction with a sensibility also shaped by architecture; Bechtold moved from textural surfaces to increasingly geometric compositions; Meirowsky oscillated between abstract structures and almost dreamlike spaces. Munford was beginning to incorporate signs and elements reminiscent of Pop Art, while Tr\u00f6kes worked with forms reminiscent of maps or imaginary landscapes. Laabs alternated between figuration and abstraction, and Ruiz carried that same experimental spirit over into ceramics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">There was a shared interest in abstraction, experimentation, forms, and textures, but no specific formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">From Dalt Vila to Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">El Corsario\u2019s exhibitions soon became social events within the island\u2019s small cultural circle. Sales weren\u2019t always brisk, but the gallery served as a place to meet, discuss, get to know artists, and bring works into circulation that otherwise would have been unlikely to reach Ibiza. In addition to the group\u2019s own members, guest artists such as Juan Genov\u00e9s, Manuel Hern\u00e1ndez Momp\u00f3, Eusebio Sempere, Hans Hartung, Joan Mir\u00f3, and Vieira da Silva participated in its exhibitions. The exchange, therefore, worked both ways: Ibiza welcomed artists and works from abroad, while its own residents began to gain visibility outside the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The group\u2019s first major breakthrough came in 1961, just two years after its founding, with an exhibition at the <em>Haus am Waldsee<\/em> in West Berlin. The exhibition ran from March 18 to April 16 and even had its own catalog. For a collective that had formed around a small gallery in Dalt Vila, this meant presenting themselves as a group to the public in one of Europe\u2019s cities with the richest artistic traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">London came three years later. In October 1964, the exhibition *Inspiration Ibiza*, organized by the Ivan Spence Gallery at the Leicester Galleries, brought together members of Ibiza 59 alongside other foreign artists living on the island. The title is revealing: by then, what was beginning to attract interest abroad was no longer just a few specific painters, but Ibiza as a place of creation. The island was beginning to acquire its own artistic identity abroad, just as Ibiza 59 was coming to the end of its run as a collective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">Grupo Puget: a different view of Ibiza<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The Ibiza 59 movement did not mean that local artists abandoned their own traditions. In 1962, the Puget Group was formed, consisting of four Ibizan painters: Vicent Calbet, Vicent Ferrer Guasch, Antoni Pomar, and Antoni Mar\u00ed Ribas \u201cPortmany.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Estampa-del-barrio-de-sa-Penya-Vicent-Ferrer-Guasch.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"880\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Estampa-del-barrio-de-sa-Penya-Vicent-Ferrer-Guasch.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Estampa-del-barrio-de-sa-Penya-Vicent-Ferrer-Guasch.jpg 880w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Estampa-del-barrio-de-sa-Penya-Vicent-Ferrer-Guasch-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Estampa-del-barrio-de-sa-Penya-Vicent-Ferrer-Guasch-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Estampa-del-barrio-de-sa-Penya-Vicent-Ferrer-Guasch-348x196.jpg 348w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:12px\">View of Sa Penya (1960s), by Vicent Ferrer Guasch. Oil on canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Its name paid tribute to Narc\u00eds Puget Vi\u00f1as, considered a pioneer of modern Ibizan painting. In contrast to the predominantly foreign and abstract character of Grupo Ibiza 59, the members of the Puget Group drew on a figurative tradition much more closely linked to the landscape, light, people, and everyday life on the island. Their painting had Impressionist roots and an explicit interest in Ibizan culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">For this reason, it has sometimes been interpreted as a local response to the dominance of foreign and abstract artists. The reality seems to have been less contentious. The artistic differences were evident, but there were good personal relationships between the two circles. In fact, the Puget Group was invited to exhibit at El Corsario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The contrast between the two groups is interesting because it reveals two simultaneous ways of engaging with the same island. For some, Ibiza was the place from which to participate in new international trends; for others, it was precisely its landscape, its inhabitants, and their ways of life that deserved to continue being depicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong>What remained after 1964<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Grupo Ibiza 59 ceased to function as a collective in 1964. One of the reasons cited is quite simple: while Ibizan society at the time might have been interested in that art, it could hardly keep up with the pace of exhibitions the group was able to organize. Its members continued to work independently, and many maintained their ties to the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">By then, however, the art scene in Ibiza had already changed. Abstraction and new European movements were no longer virtually unknown, and Ibizan artists such as Rafael Tur Costa were in touch with that scene and were pursuing their own explorations within modern art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The year 1964 is significant because, at the same time that Ibiza 59 was disbanding, the first Ibiza Biennial was held. There is insufficient evidence to present the Biennial as a direct continuation of the group, but it is difficult to view the two as completely separate histories. In the preceding years, Ibiza 59, El Corsario, and other galleries had organized exhibitions, established international contacts, and cultivated an audience accustomed to encountering contemporary art on the island. The Biennial brought some of that activity to an institutional level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, that same year, the idea of creating a museum of contemporary art began to take shape. The award-winning works from the Biennial were to form part of its initial collection, and in 1969, the Museu d\u2019Art Contemporani d\u2019Eivissa (MACE) finally opened. It was one of the first Spanish museums dedicated specifically to contemporary art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In just a decade, the scene had evolved from one sustained largely by artists, small galleries, and personal connections to one featuring an international biennial and a public museum. Grupo Ibiza 59 did not achieve this on its own, but it had helped create the environment in which it could take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grupo-59-Poster.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"901\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grupo-59-Poster.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grupo-59-Poster.jpg 901w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grupo-59-Poster-349x397.jpg 349w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grupo-59-Poster-264x300.jpg 264w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grupo-59-Poster-767x872.jpg 767w, https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grupo-59-Poster-uai-720x818.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 901px) 100vw, 901px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Ibiza 59 also helped shape an image of the island that went beyond its beaches. Before becoming a hippie destination, an international hub for electronic music, or a luxury real estate market, Ibiza was already known in certain European circles as a place where artists, architects, and writers could settle, work, and meet people from other countries. That pattern would continue over the following decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">For five years, the members of Grupo Ibiza 59 helped demonstrate that an island\u2014still small, poor, and far from the major artistic centers\u2014could be part of the cultural movements of its time. Their legacy lies less in a shared style than in the space they helped create for those who came after them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:220px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-7 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#7d6868\"><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-8 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#7d6868\">Fundaci\u00f3n DOCOMOMO Ib\u00e9rico \/ Erwin Broner: <strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/docomomoiberico.com\/en\/autoria\/erwin-broner-en\"><em>Erwin Broner<\/em><\/a>\u201d<\/strong> (s. f.), by Fundaci\u00f3n DOCOMOMO Ib\u00e9rico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-9 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#7d6868\">Museu d\u2019Art Contemporani d\u2019Eivissa (MACE) \/ colecci\u00f3n Grupo Ibiza 59: <strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mace.eivissa.es\/es\/w\/el-museu-d-art-contemporani-d-eivissa-reordena-la-col%C2%B7lecci%C3%B3-d-obres-del-grup-ibiza-59?redirect=%2Fes%2Fnot%25C3%25ADcies\"><em>El Museu d\u2019Art Contemporani d\u2019Eivissa reordena la colecci\u00f3n de obras del Grupo Ibiza 59<\/em><\/a>\u201d<\/strong> (2021), by MACE \/ Ajuntament d\u2019Eivissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-10 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#7d6868\">Haus am Waldsee \/ archivo de exposiciones: <strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/hausamwaldsee.de\/en\/exhibition-chronicles\/\"><em>Exhibition chronicles<\/em><\/a>\u201d<\/strong> (1961), by Haus am Waldsee \u2014 registro de la exposici\u00f3n <em>group ibiza 59<\/em>, celebrada del 18 de marzo al 16 de abril de 1961.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-11 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#7d6868\">Es Baluard Museu \/ Katja Meirowsky: <strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/esbaluard.org\/exposicion\/katja-meirowsky\/\"><em>Katja Meirowsky. La acci\u00f3n roja y la membrana<\/em><\/a>\u201d<\/strong> (2024), curated by Bartomeu Mar\u00ed and Imma Prieto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-12 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#7d6868\">Dialnet \/ arte y turismo en Ibiza: <strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dialnet.unirioja.es\/servlet\/articulo?codigo=5665882\"><em>Arte de vanguardia en la Ibiza tur\u00edstica<\/em><\/a>\u201d<\/strong> (2016), by Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Cardona and Mar\u00eda Isabel Ram\u00f3n Cardona.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long before Ibiza became internationally synonymous with electronic music, big nightclubs, and luxury tourism, the island was already attracting a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[717,587],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-personalities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6249"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6278,"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249\/revisions\/6278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kelosa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}