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Franz Ringel (Graz 1940-2011 Graz) is one of the most important painters and graphic artists in Austria after 1945. His artistic talent was recognized and encouraged by his foster parents at a very young age; Ringel first attended the School of Applied Arts in Graz and later the Academy of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he studied painting. With a characteristic repertoire of colors and strong ductus, Ringel preferred to depict the human figure, placing it in context with the subconscious, the human psyche, and classical Greek literature. Together with Kurt Kocherscheidt and Peter Pongratz (who is represented with numerous works in the STRABAG Artcollection), Ringel founded the artist group Wirklichkeiten [Realities] in 1968 as an antithesis to the dominant Informel. The group devoted itself to political, socially critical and satirical art. Since the 1980s, Franz Ringel signed his works with the abbreviation "M. J. M. Ringel," using the three letters to pay tribute to the three most important women in his life - his foster mother Margarete, his biological mother Juliane and his wife Maria. In 1989, Franz Ringel was awarded the Austrian Art Prize for Visual Arts.
