Eric Massholder was born in 1960 in Heidelberg, in south-west Germany.
He lives and works on the French Riviera.

In his youth, Massholder discovered what he called “the alchemy of painting” and became interested in art from different cultures. He travelled and studied in Morocco, Sicily, Greece, Turkey and India, an experience which has had a profound influence on his work. 

His stay in France began in the French Riviera home of his maternal grandmother, and the region became his home base in 1981, the year he started studying at the Villa Arson in Nice. Between 1987 and 1989, he stayed in Paris thanks to art dealer Frédéric Nocera, who gave him a studio and a residence in Vaugirard. It was during this period that he had the opportunity to work for Anne Lettrée, before returning to the South of France.

Massholder is deeply inspired by the artists of the early twentieth century and the great masters such as Van Gogh, Picasso and Dali, constantly weaving new connections between them. In his own words, “I wanted to give Dali’s hand to Picasso. This wish is the strength of my work”.

Mastering a range of techniques, from painting to sculpture, drawing to printing, Massholder’s work unfolds through a variety of styles, from primitivism to surrealism. Of Franco-German and Italian descent, he attributes his Expressionism to his German father, his Impressionism to his French mother, and his love of the Renaissance to his Florentine grandfather.

His work reveals an original, strange and fascinating universe, constantly reinvented through the use of a varied palette and diverse techniques such as oil, pastel and ink. 

Massholder’s works crystallise his desires, fears and dreams, through a series of very distinct themes. These recurring themes take the form of symbolic and allegorical signs such as the triangle, the sun, the moon, the fish, the peacock, the pyramid and the sphinx. Life and death are evoked in the form of eggs and skulls. In this way, Massholder builds up a veritable iconographic vocabulary exploring the twists and turns of society, where his images resonate like proverbs. The shark, equating the voracity of the business world with sexual power, and the dollar-monster, denouncing the death-dealing world of international finance, are perfect examples.

Over the course of his career, Massholder has developed several series in reference to historical figures, places of worship or major literary texts. He draws his inspiration from Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo, the historically charged hill of Monte Verità, and works such as Dante’s Divine Comedy, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Goethe’s The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.

His work has been exhibited in various cities throughout Europe: Heidelberg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Nuremberg, Brussels, Ghent, Lausanne, Venice, Paris, Strasbourg, Nice and Monaco. In 1997, he won the Special Jury Prize at the Montreux Arts Festival. His luxurious limited edition of illustrations to van Gogh’s letters is part of the archives of prestigious museums such as the MAMAC in Nice and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.