* 25 December 1901 in Hamburg-Finkenwerder; † 1 July 1979 in Hamburg-Blankenese
 
painter and graphic artist
 
Eduard Bargheer belonged to the Hamburg Secession from 1929 until its forced dissolution in 1933. His painter friend Gretchen Wohlwill, co-founder of the artists' association, brought him into contact with the Secession as early as 1927 and he participated in its exhibitions ever since. From 1939 the Italian island of Ischia became his second home. Here he created landscape paintings of enchanting lightness. With his mosaic-like, light watercolours at the interface of representationalism and abstraction, Bargheer is one of the best-known watercolourists. His complete works represent one of Hamburg's most important contributions to modernist painting.
Bargheer turned to art in 1924. The Hamburger Kunsthalle purchased a painting by him in 1926. In 1935 he meets Paul Klee, whose art inspires him. In the same year he travelled to Ischia for the first time and was fascinated by the beauty of the island. Under the Nazi regime, life became increasingly unbearable for the freedom-loving painter. His art was considered "degenerate". He therefore left Germany in April 1939 for more than a decade and chose Sant'Angelo, later Forio on Ischia, as his place of residence. In 1948 the artist took part in the Venice Biennale. From 1953 he lived partly on the island and partly in Hamburg again. With his participation in documenta I and II in Kassel in 1955 and 1959 respectively, he became internationally known. In 1976 Bargheer founded the foundation named after him for the promotion of young visual artists. Works by the painter are now represented in the National Gallery in Berlin and in many important modern museum collections. In 2008/09, the Hamburger Kunsthalle presented the representative exhibition "Eduard Bargheer in Hamburg". Since 2017, the Bargheer Museum in Hamburg has been honouring the artist's achievements.