In the Messerschnitte series, Imi Knoebel opts for the collage technique. He painted bright colors on large sheets of paper, which he then randomly cut into irregular shapes and arranged as a collage on a white paper background. The result is reminiscent of the Papiers découpés, a later work by the French artist Henri Matisse (1869–1954). At the same time, the Messerschnitte belong to the group of Imi Knoebel’s first colored works. His decision to employ color from the mid-1970s onward was thanks to his friendship with the artist Blinky Palermo. The latter studied with Knoebel under Joseph Beuys in Düsseldorf and explored in great detail the possibilities of color for his minimalist visual language. After Palermo’s untimely death in 1977, Knoebel dedicated a group of works to him entitled 24 Farben – für Blinky (“24 Colors – for Blinky”) which bear similarities to the Messerschnitten in their use of color and form.
The same group of works also includes: Messerschnitt (1977) and Ohne Titel (Messerschnitte) (1977).
