Remembering Aviva Ronnefeld (1957-2024)

Daughter of the late WFIMC president and Secretary General Renate Ronnefeld, the artist Aviva Ronnefeld died on a beautiful summer day this past August, far too young at the age of 66. A year earlier, she had been diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a brain tumour with a life expectancy of just months.

From that moment, for all of her friends, time became precious. The mission was to create beautiful moments with her, memories one could hold onto, and to preserve everything about her that could be preserved. Aviva was a gifted gardener who called her allotment the “Garden of Eden.” There, surrounded by friends, she would toil for hours, cutting flowers and harvesting vegetables while her friends took endless photos of her. She would pose and smile for everyone. One wanted to capture her, a simple but profound desire, and I believe she knew it, wanting to remain vivid in our memories.

Aviva also wanted her work to be remembered. After her diagnosis, she could no longer paint and instead dedicated herself to creating her catalogue raisonné. Alongside her partner Pierre and her friend Corinna, she unearthed every painting, drawing, and object from cupboards and drawers. They opened crates, sorted through slides, sales lists, diaries, and records, piecing together the vast puzzle of her life’s work. In the end, 2,364 artworks were documented. “These pictures are like my children,” she said.

Though she had wanted children, Aviva became like a mother and mentor to the many artists and thinkers who constantly surrounded her. Her Berlin/Kreuzberg apartment was a hub for parties filled with people of all ages, all drawn to her captivating spirit. She took a genuine, critical interest in the work of those close to her and cherished intellectual exchange, never shying from a spirited discussion, preferably with a glass of white wine spritzer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

Two days before she died, she could no longer speak. Aviva Ronnefeld’s art was not just in painting pictures, but in her ability to see life itself as a work of art. She knew how to find beauty and profound humanity in the trivial, and if it was missing, she knew how to create it.