Between two Worlds – Bettina Heinen-Ayech

After studying art at the Cologne Werkschulen, the Munich Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, she was invited to Cairo in 1962 for a major exhibition of her work. This was followed by a six-month stay at the Winter Academy in Luxor. In Egypt, she experienced the glaring sun of the south. She decided to move to North Africa, more precisely to Guelma in eastern Algeria, a small town in the Atlas Mountains, the homeland of her Algerian husband.

Her first name, Bettina, serves as her signature and established artist name, symbolising the clarity and exceptional quality of her work. She paints what she sees with passion, spontaneity and great honesty towards herself and her subjects. Nothing is artistically contrived. She painted what she saw and how she saw it uncompromisingly. She developed her own independent post-Impressionist artistic style incorporating expressive elements, which deserves its place in the art world.

During her 60 years of creative work in Algeria, she became a legendary figure known throughout the country as ‚Madame Bettina‘. However, her regular visits to the Artists‘ Colony in Solingen meant that she never lost touch with her roots. Until her death in 2020, she divided her time between Algeria and Solingen. Bettina Heinen-Ayech leaves behind a magnificent and diverse body of work. It is the life’s work of an emancipated woman, a great artist, and someone who moved between worlds.

The exhibition “Between two Worlds – Bettina Heinen-Ayech ” presents numerous works by the painter and her view of the world. Visit this special exhibition at the Municipal Gallery in Schwalenberg from 6 July 2025 to 7 September 2025, opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., www.kulturagentur-online.de/ausstellung/zwischen-den-welten-bettina-heinen-ayech-1937-2020

Further information about the exhibition and the Solingen artists‘ colony is available from:

Bettina Heinen-Ayech Foundation, Dr Haroun Ayech, +49 (0)151 42221142,

mail@bettina-heinen-ayech-foundation.com, www.bettina-heinen-ayech-foundation.com

or

Landesverband Lippe, Lippische Kulturagentur, Dr. Mayarí Granados, m.granados@landesverband-lippe.de

In cooperation with the town of Schieder-Schwalenberg