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Bernhard Heisig (b. March 31st, 1925) is a German artist. One of the most well-known East German artists, Heisig has had an impressive art career on both sides of the Berlin Wall. He is best known for his paintings about war.

Biography
Bernhard Heisig was born on March 31, 1925 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland). His father, Walter Heisig, was a painter and printmaker and taught Heisig how to draw from an early age. However, his father discouraged him from pursuing a career in art, citing potential financial difficulties. After the death of his father in 1941, Heisig began to take art classes at the local school in Breslau. He also enrolled in the military.

As part of the military, Heisig was assigned to the 12th SS Panzer Division, dubbed "the Children's Unit" by the Allies, as most of the recruits, like Heisig, came from the Hitler Youth. As part of the SS, Heisig participated in the Battle of the Bulge and the Siege of Breslau. In 1946, Heisig began to work as a graphic artist in the Polish office of information and propaganda. He left Breslau in 1947, forced out when the city changed hands from Germany to Poland, and settled in Zeitz.

In 1948, Heisig studied art at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Leipzig under Walter Münze. In 1949, he enrolled at the Leipzig Academy, where he studied under Max Schwimmer. He dropped out of school two years later during the height of the Formalism Debates, which were particularly strongly felt at the Leipzig Academy.

During the cultural thaw of the mid 1950s, Heisig slowly became an important figure in the Leipzig art scene. He exhibited regularly in art exhibitions, took part on exhibition juries, published art reviews in the local and national press, and received a number of awards for his art. He also held important positions: in 1954, he became an assistant (teacher) at the Leipzig Academy, and in 1956, he was elected chair of the Leipzig branch of the Association of Visual Artists (VBKD), a position he held until 1959.

In 1961, Heisig was promoted to professor. He also became rector of the Leipzig Art Academy, a prestigious position within the East German art world. One of his most notable achievements during these years was to establish a painting class at the school. Initially hired for two years, he remained rector until 1964, when he resigned to have more time for his art. Many today believe he was fired due to the controversial speech he gave at the 5th Congress of the VBKD, but his resignation letter actually predates the conference. A few weeks after resigning, Heisig gave a speech at the Fifth Congress, stating that East Germany needed to stop treating artists like children: "In the effort to protect him from dangerous influences, the artist is being treated like a child not allowed onto the street [of modern art] for fear of getting run over... [This leads to both] an uncritical overevaluation of western art as the forbidden fruit and to provinciality... One overcomes such a situation not through ignorance, repression, or isolation, but rather by engaging with it." In the wake of his 1964 speech, Heisig was investigated by the East German government and required to give a self-criticism.

In 1965, Heisig exhibited the  Paris Commune at the Seventh Regional Art Exhibition in Leipzig. This exhibition marks the emergence of the Leipzig School of modern painters onto the East German art scene, which included Werner Tuebke and Wolfgang Mattheuer. The explosion of modern styles at this exhibition caused much discussion in the press.

In 1968, Heisig left his teaching position at the Leipzig Academy to become a freelance artist.

During the Honecker era (1971-89), Heisig became one of East Germany's best known artists, together with Tuebke, Mattheuer and Willi Sitte. They exhibited regularly in the West, including at documenta and the Venice Biennale. In the 1990s, they were at the center of a number of controversies over the role they and their art should be allowed to play in the new, unified Germany.

Today, Heisig lives and works in Strodehne, near Berlin, with his second wife, the artist Gudrun Bruene. He has two sons, the artists Johannes Heisig (b. 1953) and Walter Eisler (b. 1956).