Following his acclaimed exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this fully illustrated catalogue is published in conjunction with Neo Rauch's fourth solo exhibition at David Zwirner, New York. One of his generation's most influential and virtuoso painters, Rauch continues the rich tradition of Leipzig figurative painting. The artist transforms typical industrious scenes into veritable dreamscapes, transporting viewers to a deeply personal and enigmatic symbolic universe. Rauch does not rely on existing imagery or models for his paintings, and while some begin as tiny sketches, he works his imagined scenes directly onto the canvas. He likens his process to reading a novel, with the paintings unfolding as surprisingly for their maker as for any viewer. Springing from dreams and shaped by experience, both past and present, Rauch's instinctive imagery and automatic approach exceed straightforwardly Surrealist concerns and restrictive exercise.