Pedro Friedeberg
Florence, Italy, 1936 - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2026
Photo Gallery
PEDRO FRIEDEBERG - BIOGRAPHY
Pedro Friedeberg was born on January 11, 1936, in Florence, Italy, the son of a German-Jewish family. His parents fled Europe at the outbreak of World War II and arrived in Mexico when Friedeberg was 3 years old.
Friedeberg began studying architecture but did not complete his studies. He studied for a time in Boston before enrolling at Universidad Iberoamericana in 1957 to study architecture. His professors favored symmetrical architecture like that of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who designed the Seagram Building in New York, but Friedeberg found it boring. He preferred the work of Antoni Gaudí, creating circular plans, and thus began designing eccentric structures such as buildings with artichoke-shaped roofs and skyscrapers topped with pears; these designs caused him to fail. However, his time as a student at Universidad Iberoamericana allowed him to meet the artist Mathías Goeritz, who appreciated his work. Goeritz told Friedeberg to continue with his art. During the summers, Friedeberg worked as Goeritz’s assistant, collaborating on artistic projects.
Through family and friends, he met other surrealist artists such as Remedios Varo, who recommended his work to Galería Diana. This led to Friedeberg’s first exhibition in 1960, when he was only 24 years old. He also met Leonora Carrington and Alice Rahon, and later became a member of Los Hartos in 1961. The group was based on Dadaist principles: the creation of anti-art for the sake of art, rejecting social and political painting.
Friedeberg painted and created murals for various Mexican institutions. Abroad, he created illustrations and book covers, furniture, and complete designs. His best-known piece is the “Hand-Chair” (Mano-Silla): a sculpture/chair designed to sit on the palm, using the fingers as backrest and armrests.
Since his first exhibition, his work has had a readily identifiable style. At times he drew inspiration from architectural plans to create unusual designs and even used useless objects, a result of his boredom. Friedeberg studied and incorporated elements from various artistic movements he experienced, from Art Nouveau to Op Art. Much of his work has an industrial quality derived from his training as an architect. However, it also has a dreamlike quality, depicting impossible places and structures, with countless hallways and rooms, secret passages, and absurd staircases.
Irony and excess are commonly expressed through his almost hallucinatory repetition of elements in disorder, though that disorder is the result of conscious thought. He classified his work as eclectic and hybrid. His art is not political—it is art for art’s sake. His works almost always carry a cynical and/or sarcastic tone.
Friedeberg’s paintings, furniture, and other creations are characterized by abundant ornamentation, with little or no empty space, filled with lines, colors, and symbols referencing ancient sculptures, Aztec codices, Catholicism, Hinduism, and more.
Friedeberg belongs to a group of 20th-century Mexican surrealist artists that includes Gunther Gerzso, Mathias Goeritz, Alice Rahon, Kati Horna, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, and Paul Antragne, brought together in a group known as “Los Hartos.” The members were especially known for being original, eccentric, irreverent, and iconoclastic.
Pedro Friedeberg died on March 5, 2026, at the age of 90.
MAIN SOLO EXHIBITIONS BY PEDRO FRIEDEBERG
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1959 Galería Diana, Ciudad de México |
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1960 Obra reciente, Galería Proteo, México, Ciudad de México |
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1962 Objetos útiles e inútiles. mujeres tatuadas, etc, Galería Antonio Souza, Ciudad de México |
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1962 Villa Andre Bloc Gallery, Paris, Francia |
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1962 Corsairs Gallery, Nueva York |
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1962 Carstairs Gallery, New York |
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1963 The Foz Palace, Lisboa, Portugal |
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1963 El origen de la mermelada, Pan American Union, Washington, DC |
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1963 The Foz Palace, Lisboa, Portugal |
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1963 Gallerie Carroll, Munich, Alemania |
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1964 Byron Gallery, New York |
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1964 La venganza del ventrílocuo, Galería Antonio Souza, Ciudad de México |
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1965 Gallerie Brusberg Hanover, Alemania |
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1965 Acquarelle and Objekte, Gallerie Hella Nebelung Dusseldorf |
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1965 Conteiner Corporation of America, Chicago |
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1965 International Gallery, Baltimore |
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1966 Galería Antonio Souza,Ciudad de México |
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1966 Feingarten Gallery Los Ángeles, California |
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1967 Kiko Galleries Houston, Texas |
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1967 Byron Gallery, New York |
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1968 Glade Gallery, New Orleans, USA |
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1968 Antonio Souza Gallery , Ciudad de México |
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1970 Maurice Sternberg Gallery, Chicago |
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1971 Galería Misrachi, Ciudad de México |
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1971 Exconvento del Carmen, Guadalajara, Jalisco |
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1971 Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, Florida |
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1971Gallery of Modern Art, Phoenix, Arizona |
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1974 Galería Pecanis, Barcelona, España |
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1974 Galería Misrachi, Ciudad de México |
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1974 Grace Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach, California |
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1975 Casa de la Cultura Puebla, Puebla |
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1975 Casa de la Campana Cuernavaca, Morelos |
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1975 Hyperdacent, Galerie Iris Clert, Paris France |
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1976 Paintings and Sculpture, Covo de Longh Gallery, Miami, Florida |
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1976 Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, Florida |
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1976 Grace Hokin Gallery, Chicago, Illinois |
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1977 Grace Hokin Gallery, Chicago, Illinois |
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1978 The Art Center Museum, Waco, Texas |
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1978 Goldman Gallery Haifa, Israel |
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1979 Harcourt’s Gallery San Francisco, California |
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1979 Kopeliovitch Gallery Montreal, Canadá |
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1979 Mixografia Gallery, Los Ángeles, California |
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1981 Phyllis Needleman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois |
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1983 Speranza Gallery, Montreal, Canadá |
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1983 Galería del círculo, Ciudad de México |
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1983 Speranza Gallery, Montreal |
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1983 La Venus de Chilpancingo, Mixografia Gallery, Los Angeles |
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1984 Ravel Gallery, Austin, Texas |
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1984 Galería Manolo Rivero, Mérida, Yucatán |
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1985 El pulmón del Popocatépetl, Galería Mer-kup, Ciudad de México |
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1985 Cinco siglos de siesta, Centro Cultural El Nigromante San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato |
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1985 Kinky Toys, Carmen Llewellyn Gallery, New Orleans, USA |
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1986 Clepsidra y Babilómetro, Museo de Arte Moderno, Ciudad de México |
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1986 Museo Biblioteca Pape, Monclova, Coahuila |
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1987 Vorpal Gallery, New York |
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1989 Painting and Sculpture, Carmen Llewellyn Gallery, New Orleans, USA |
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1990 Galería de Arte Mexicano, Ciudad de México |
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1990 Galería Latrane Temple, San Miguel de Allende |
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1991 Ejercicios Espirituales, Centro Cultural El Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato |
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1992 Instituto Cultural de Veracruz, Córdoba, Veracruz |
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1992 Friedebergueses y Friedeberguerias, Galeria Adolfo Best Maugard, Ciudad de México |
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1993 Introducing Pedro Friedeberg, Gallery of Fine Art, San Antonio Texas |
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1994 Gallerie Simonne Stern New. Orleans, USA |
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1995 Festival Pedro Friedeberg, Crisis Económica-Venta de Garage, Centro Cultural el Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende |
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1996 Arquitecturas Ilusorias, Galería de Arte Mexicano Ciudad de México |
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1996 Cartas de Pedro Friedeberg, Galería Salón Michel Bock, San Miguel de Allende |
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1996 Mantícora pudorosa y logaritmo asesinado, Museo Casa de Diego Rivera, Guanajuato, México |
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1997 Homenaje a Pedro Friedeberg, Museo Omar Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombia |
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1997 Tarot y Zodíaco, Centro Multimedia, San Miguel de Allende |
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1997 Galerie Simmone Sterne New Orleans, USA |
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1997 Singularidades Oximorónicas, Centro Cultural El Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende |
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1998 Miedo a la oscuridad, Casa Terán, Instituto Cultural Terán, Aguascalientes, Ags. México |
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1998 La mano poderosa, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Phoenix Arizona, USA |
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1998 Museo Pedro Friedeberg, San Miguel de Allende, Gto |
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1998 Archivo General del Estado de Pachuca, Hidalgo |
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1998 Torres Inclinadas, Centro Cultural El Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende |
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1999 Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Ciudad de México |
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2000 Instituto Cultural Isidro Fabela, Ciudad de México |
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2000 Espacios Reales, Galería Drexel, Monterrey, NL. México |
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2000 Galerie im Gassla, Nuremberg, Alemania |
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2000 Bastante interesante, Centro Cultural El Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende |
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2001 Festival del Desierto, La Paz, SLP , Mexico |
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2002 Retospectiva, Museo de Historia Mexicana, Monterrey, NL, México |
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2002 Réquiem por una mosca, Antiguo Palacio del Arzobizpado, Ciudad de México |
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2002 Menú luna llena, Centro Cultural El Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende |
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2003 Renseignements utiles, Studio DVO, Brucelas, Bélgica |
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2004 Tarántulas Pitagóricas, Galería Pecannins, Ciudad de México |
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2004 Infonavit de las cucarachas, Casa de la Cultura, Aguascalientes |
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2006 Galería Casa Diana, San Miguel de Allende |
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2006 Galería La Máquina, Monterrey |
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2006 Obra para José Cuervo, Museo Tequila Cuervo, Tequila, Jalisco |
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2008 Museo José Luis Cuevas, Ciudad de México |
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2008 Galería Enrique Guerrero, Ciudad de México |
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2008 Galería Ruiz Healy, San Antonio, Texas |
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2009 Confusiones Impecables, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Ciudad de México |
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2009 Galería Reyna Henaine, New York, USA |
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2010 Barroquismo, Palacio Municipal, Puebla, Puebla |
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2010 Arbol de la VIda, Festival Bicentenario, Zócalo, Ciudad de México |
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2010 Centro Cultural El Cubo, Tijuana, México |
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2011 Instituto Politécnico, Facultad Arquitectura, Ciudad de México |
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2011 Galería Fifty, Ciudad de México |
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2012 Pedro Friedeberg en la Colección del Tec de Monterrey, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Estado de México, Atizapán de Zaragoza, Estado de México |
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2016 La Casa Irracional, Museo Franz Mayer, Ciudad de México. |
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2017 Muestra Individual de Pedro Friedeberg, Zona Maco 2017, Arte moderno, Galería Fifty24mx, Ciudad de México |
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2020 Doctorado en Cariátides, Casa de México en España, Madrid |
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2020 Paciencia ¿Sí o No?, CAM Galería, Curada por Diego García, Ciudad de México |
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2021 “AMAZE ME AND I AMAZE YOU”, Galería Dot Fiftyone, Miami, Florida |
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2021 “SD NFTs x PF @CAM”, CAM Galería, Curada por Alejandro Sordo, Ciudad de México |
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2021 Exposición de Pedro Friedeberg en el Hotel Presidente Intercontinental, Ciudad de México |
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2022 Summa Hartis, Art Collector Forum, MANIFESTÓ Gallery, Guadalajara |
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2022 Emociones Arquitectónicas. Mathías Goeritz y Pedro Friedeberg, Casa Gilardi, Ciudad de México |
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2023 “Hipnerotomagia”, Galería MAIA, Ciudad de México |
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2023 “Hipnerotomagia”, Time. Space. Existence. Bienal de Arquitectura, Palacio Bembo, Venecia, Italia. |
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2023 “Dragones Musicales”, CAM Galería, Curada por Diego García Ciudad de México |
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2025 Ciudad Épsilon – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Querétaro (MACQ) |
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2025 Simetrías y puntos de fuga, 70 años de creación – Galería Saenger |