Heinke Böhnert is an artist and paints sail pictures using parts of original sails - including those of Boris Herrmann.
Photo: Michael Rauhe
Artist Heinke Böhnert is internationally renowned for her maritime works - and works together with the Hamburg sailor.
Hamburg. She hasn't really arrived back home yet. The plane only landed a few days ago, the suitcases arrived a day later. And her husband is still travelling by boat. But that's not so bad, says Heinke Böhnert. Here, in her studio in Eimsbüttel, she can get going again. It's always the same chaos there anyway.
The 62-year-old, who has been friends with sailor Boris Herrmann for years, has made a name for herself in Hamburg and around the world with her sailing paintings. She shows the Abendblatt her studio during a meeting - and explains how the interest in her paintings came about. ‘I don't really know myself anymore,’ says Böhnert. ‘It just developed bit by bit.’
Eimsbüttel: Artist Heinke Böhnert uses sails by Boris Herrmann
But first things first. Heinke Böhnert is a Hamburg native through and through. She was born and grew up here and started a family here. This is still her home today. And it is here in Eimsbüttel that she has her studio, where many of her paintings are created. When she is not working in her small holiday home in Friedrichstadt on the North Sea or travelling.
The Hamburg native has been sailing for as long as she can remember. First with her family, later in the NRV itself, with her husband and children. ‘You could say that sailing has taken hold of our family.’ Her husband now calls himself a ‘sailor’ for a reason. He gave up his law firm a few years ago and now sails around the world. ‘We always say: the sea called him,’ says Böhnert.
Heinke Böhnert sails a lot - but she prefers to paint even more
If her time allows, she travels here and there, as she has done over the past three and a half weeks. But it is just as important for her to return home again and again. ‘Because I'd rather paint than sail.’ After all, Heinke Böhnert has been involved in art since she was a child. ‘I've always painted a lot.’
Piece by piece, she created pictures that reflected her love of the sea and sailing. The young woman began experimenting with fabrics at an early age, ‘because of the feel, which always appealed to me.’ Sails are also made of different materials. So at some point she started working with old sails. ‘That gave my pictures a three-dimensionality, which I really liked.’
First Heinke Böhnert painted in her own kitchen
At first, the mother of two painted in her kitchen at home. The colours were quickly spread all over the room, reports the artist. ‘And the paintings hung over the Ikea cupboard handles to dry.’ At some point, however, there really wasn't enough space, so she had to have her own studio.
Heinke Böhnert found this in the centre of Eimsbüttel on Stellinger Weg. She has been renting these rooms for more than 20 years now. She paints here, stores the sails here - and friends of the family can also stay here from time to time. There is a small flat at the back, where her paintings hang everywhere, of course. ‘This is basically my second or third home, it should also be a bit cosy.’
Eimsbüttel: Old sails are stored in the front part of the studio
But the chaos at the front facing the street is all the greater. Hundreds of colour tubes and pots are wildly jumbled up on high tables. ‘I collect colours from all over the world,’ says Böhnert. Then they end up here on the large table and are processed piece by piece.
One room further on are her treasures, as the artist says. The treasures are special old sails that Böhnert also collects everywhere. ‘That's the best thing, when I can get hold of a special old sail somewhere that has a story.’ After all, she wants to tell the story with her pictures. It's a huge pile here in the small room in the basement. Only Heinke Böhnert herself has an overview of the chaos of large and small cloths.
Artist from Eimsbüttel: Her greatest treasures are discarded sails
At the top, for example, is a colourful sail - which tore when Boris Herrmann rammed a fishing trawler shortly before entering France during the 2020/2021 Vendée Globe. She also has a cloth from the winner of the Ocean Race 2018, the ‘Dongfeng’, in her collection, as she proudly shows.
Or one of the winners of the prestigious Americas Cup 2021: Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel have also handed over an old sail. The two young men won the bronze medal in the 49er at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Heinke Böhnert knows every single sail in her pictures
Small pieces of fabric cut to size lie in a basket on the table. This is because Heinke Böhnert uses several sails in most of her works. For almost every one of her paintings, she can still tell where each piece of cloth comes from. And you can see her great pleasure when she points to one picture or another and explains the individual components.
Heinke Böhnert is known all over the world, at least in the water sports scene, for these paintings with incorporated sails. The artist always combines the old sails with drawings of modern racing yachts. In addition, thick layers of colour are applied to give the picture a special structure.
Heinke Böhnert has already exhibited her pictures all over the world
She is now even copied from time to time. Which doesn't really bother the Hamburg native. ‘Firstly, I see it as an honour when my pictures are worthy of being copied.’ And secondly, she is certain: ‘The original, that's me. And most people know that too.’
Heinke Böhnert has already exhibited her artwork in many places. There was a major exhibition on the ‘Rickmer Rickmers’ in 2014, for example, and she has also shown her pictures in London, Cowes, Brussels, Amsterdam, Monaco and Newport, to name just a few places.
Eimsbüttel: Heinke Böhnert's pictures also on show at the Hotel Atlantic
She also does commissioned work for companies. Her paintings not only hang in many living rooms around the world, but also in hotels. In 2011, for example, Heinke Böhnert decorated the Hotel Atlantic with 204 works. Then in 2021 the new ‘Seacloud Spirit’.
However, she is particularly proud when her works are given as gifts to famous people. For example, she was commissioned by former German President Joachim Gauck to create a painting that he presented to Norway's King Harald in Oslo in 2014. ‘Of course, I researched exactly which ships the king sails and has sailed - and picked up on the style of the boats as well as the matching sailcloth.’
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already received a picture of her as a gift
In 2021, the guest of honour at Kiel Week, Prince Albert of Monaco, received a painting by her, presented by Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer. Last year, Kämpfer presented Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) with a work by her.
Heinke Böhnert has had a particularly close relationship with Hamburg's most famous sailor Boris Herrmann for many years. ‘We actually met many years ago through my husband,’ she says. Her son has been involved in Team Malizia ever since, and the artist herself has also worked a lot with Herrmann.
Heinke Böhnert has worked with Boris Herrmann on many occasions
In 2019, she designed her first series of pictures with Herrmann's scarf - part of the proceeds benefited the extreme sailor's education programme. Another special limited series of pictures was created in 2021 after the end of the Vendée Globe 2021 - all signed by the sailor. Once again, Heinke Böhnert donated part of the proceeds to My Ocean Challenge.
That year, the artist created a small picture from a piece of Herrmann's sail. Together with a signature, she still sells the small pictures today. This time, part of the proceeds will go towards the mangrove reforestation project that Herrmann and Team Malizia are supporting.
Heinke Böhnert's latest idea: a piece of Boris Herrmann's sailcloth together with the sailor's signature.
Photo: Michael Rauhe
Source: Abendblatt.de
