Women's places NRW

On 7 June 2024, Bettina Heinen-Ayech was included in the exclusive circle of the 50 most important historical women personalities in NRW. With the "Womans Places NRW", the FrauenRat NRW - an association of around 50 women's organisations and groups - honours women's personalities who have played a decisive role in shaping the history of the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, who have achieved great things and made groundbreaking achievements. Bettina Heinen-Ayech was chosen as an outstanding 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.

The speakers at the ceremony were Ms Birgit Wehrhöfer from the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration, Ms Inge Blask, Member of the NRW Women's Council, Tim Kurzbach, Mayor of Solingen, and Dr Haroun Ayech from the Bettina Heinen-Ayech Foundation. Equal Opportunities Officer Sandra Ernst from the City of Solingen hosted the ceremony on 7 June at Waldhof Hackhausen, Solingen.

Birgit Wehrhöfer: "We want to see the historical women of Nordrhein-Westfalen and learn about their stories - not just in museums and special exhibitions, but on a daily basis and in everyday places."

Inge Blask: "What a special personality and artist Bettina Heinen-Ayech was is also shown by the fact that she achieved almost legendary status in two completely different places: In both her native Solingen and her adopted home of Algeria, she made her own mark on the art scene and built numerous bridges. We are therefore delighted to honour her work today with the opening of this Women's Places."

Tim Kurzbach, Lord Mayor of the city of Solingen: "This award recognises women who have made a special contribution to our state of North Rhine-Westphalia. I am 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 historical journey of discovery to Solingen. These women can still serve as inspiration for us today. The city of Solingen already honoured Bettina Heinen-Ayech in an outstanding way in 1993 with the Cultural Prize of the Baden Civic Foundation".

The Solingen watercolorist and plein-air painter Bettina Heinen-Ayech attracted international attention as an artist. The then still unknown young painter was invited to take part in the important group exhibition "German Contemporary Art 1955/56" and showed 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 literature 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). She remained associated with him throughout her life and travelled with him on numerous art trips throughout Europe. After her training at the art academies in Cologne, Munich and Copenhagen, a stay of several months in Luxor, Egypt, led to an awakening experience that brought her closer to the desert and the light of the Orient. In 1963, the painter moved in with her Algerian husband, the building contractor Abdelhamid Ayech, in his home town of Guelma. Until her death in 2020, Algeria would alternate with Solingen as the centre of her life. Bettina Heinen-Ayech's exhibition catalogue includes over 90 major solo exhibitions in museums and important cultural institutions in Europe and North Africa. Numerous museums own paintings by her.