About the artist: Sieger Köder

Sieger Köder was born on 3rd January 1925 in Wasseralfingen, Germany, where he completed his studies. During the Second World War he was sent to France as a front line soldier where he was made a prisoner or war. Once back from captivity, Sieger Köder attended the Academy School of Art in Stuttgart until 1951; then he studied English philology at the University of Tubigen as part of his qualification as a teacher.

After 12 years or teaching art and working as an artist, Köder undertook theological studies for the priesthood and in 1971 he was ordained a Catholic priest. From 1975 to 1995, Fr. Köder exercised his ministry as a parish priest in Hohenberg and Rosenberg and today he lives in retirement in Ellwangen, not far from Stuttgart.

The years of his ministry as a priest are among the most prolific with inspiring works of art. There is complete synergy between Fr Köder being a minister and an artist. He uses his paintings as Jesus used his parables. He 'reveals' the depth of the Christian message through metaphors, shedding light and colour on life and human history. Köder's art is heavily charged with his personal experience of war during the Nazi period and the time of the Holocaust.

Besides exegetical works and biblical stories, one of Köder's leitmotiv is the Harlequin. A counterpart or the modern robot — a creation of rationality, logic, planning, and precision — the Harlequin symbolizes irrationality, poetry, freedom, amusement. The Harlequin stands for art and for the artist. Furthermore, behind its comic facade there is the reality of each one of us. In fact, "We are all fools", states Sieger Köder. Maybe the Harlequin stands also for the folly of God.