Bettina Heinen-Ayech – included in the exclusive circle of the most important historical female personalities in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

The patron of the FrauenOrte NRW project is Josefine Paul, Minister for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Bettina Heinen-Ayech was chosen as a great artist, as the most important protagonist of the Solingen Artists‘ Colony "Black House" and for her commitment as an ambassador for international understanding between Orient and Occident.

Tim Kurzbach, Lord Mayor of the City of Solingen: "This award honours women who have made a special contribution to our state of NRW. I am very proud that Bettina Heinen-Ayech’s birthplace and place of work – the ‚Black House‘ of the Solingen Artists‘ Colony – is now officially recognised as a Women’s Place NRW and posthumously invites you on a journey of historical discovery to Solingen. These women can still inspire us today. As early as 1993, the city of Solingen honoured Bettina Heinen-Ayech in an outstanding way by awarding her the "1993 Cultural Prize of the Baden Citizens‘ Foundation", presented by the mayor at the time, Gerd Kaimer.

The Bettina Heinen-Ayech Foundation would like to thank the City of Solingen, consisting of the Equal Opportunities Office and the City Archive, as well as the Bergischer Geschichtsverein – Solingen Division – for the joint initiative to recognise Bettina Heinen-Ayech as a woman’s place in Solingen.

Equal Opportunities Officer Sandra Ernst adds: "We are delighted that the FrauenRat NRW has agreed to honour Bettina Heinen-Ayech at the Solingen FrauenOrt NRW."

The Solingen watercolourist and plein air painter Bettina Heinen-Ayech attracted international attention as an artist with a bang: the then unknown young painter was invited to participate in the important group exhibition "German Contemporary Art 1955/56". The exhibition featured works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Paul Klee, Max Beckmann, Max Ernst, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Käthe Kollwitz, and toured America, Africa and Asia.

Bettina Heinen-Ayech was the daughter of the journalist and poet Hanns Heinen and Erna Heinen-Steinhoff, who ran her art and literary salon in the houses of the Artists‘ Colony "Black House". It was here that Bettina met her most important teacher and mentor, the painter Erwin Bowien (1899-1972), with whom she remained in contact for the rest of her life and with whom she travelled extensively throughout Europe. After studying at the art academies in Cologne, Munich and Copenhagen, a stay of several months in Luxor, Egypt, was a revitalising experience that brought her closer to the desert and the light of the Orient. In 1963, the painter moved to her Algerian husband, the builder Abdelhamid Ayech, in his home town of Guelma. Until her death in 2020, Algeria alternated with Solingen as the centre of her life. Bettina Heinen-Ayech’s exhibition catalogue lists more than 90 major solo exhibitions in museums and important cultural institutions in Europe and North Africa. Numerous museums own her paintings.

The Bettina Heinen-Ayech Foundation, Foundation for Art, Culture and International Dialogue, was established at the beginning of 2022 to promote intercultural dialogue and to preserve the work of Bettina Heinen-Ayech.

You can find more information at: www.bettina-heinen-ayech-foundation.com, www.frauenorte-nrw.de, www.bettina-heinen-ayech.com, www.schwarzes-haus.com