Herdin Radtke

Herdin Radtke

As most artists Herdin Radtke has been creative from a young age. After school Herdin went to Rome in the seventies and studied the painting of light through the works of the great masters of the past. He was never very impressed with the then emerging modern art. He was much more fascinated by the grand paintings of the past and the possibility to express everything his inner self wanted to convey through a painting.

Chance and providence of fate took him to Spain where he belonged to the last group of international artists who worked in the circle of Salvadore Dali in Cadaques. Restoring some older works of Dali commissioned by Enrique Sabater provided Herdin with a closer relationship. Surrealism appeared to him to be the last form of painting which required not only ingenuity but also a high level of skill.

Herdin Radtke eventually returned to Germany for a few years. His paintings were inspired by the Dutch still life and floral paintings which he worked on again and again. He also ran his first workshops.

In 1990 Herdin moved to France to a small picturesque village called Saint Pompon. Gradually learning the language he concentrated on his work. Bit by bit he developed a new concept to teach oil painting. His exuberant baroque type floral paintings and still lifes conquered the whole of the French market while he continued to work tirelessly on his teaching method.

He later concentrated entirely on his workshops in order to complete his POMPONIST TEACHING METHOD named after his home town ST.POMPON.  Today he holds Workshops in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and France.

Herdin has published two artists handbooks in 2008/2009. They were written in German and later translated into French and Dutch titled THE MAGIC OF OILPAINTING and LANDSCAPES in OILS. During the following years he produced some 30 teaching videos with new ones being added quite often.

Despite his successes in art he never let go of making music and and writing songs. Even today he is working on a new release with ballads written and composed by himself.