Born in Solothurn, Switzerland, in 1948, in 1964 he moved to the United States. At Swarthmore College in Philadelphia, he met David Sylvester under whom he studied the History of Art.
After living in the United States and Switzerland, he moved in 1979 to Portugal, where he spent most of his life until his sudden death in 2013.
A self-taught painter, since the 1970s his works have been exhibited all over the world and are to be found in the collections of contemporary art museums and foundations, including: the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art in Lisbon, the Serralves Foundation in Oporto, and the Museu Coleção Berardo in Lisbon.
Solo exhibitions:
2023
Michael Biberstein, Beyond, curated by Marina Guida, Reggia di Caserta, Sala Romanelli
2022
Michael Biberstein, Giorgio Persano, Turin
2020
Seeing, Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Espace Marais, Paris
2018
Michael Biberstein: X, a retrospective, curated by Delfim Sardo, Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos – Culturgest, Lisbon
Glider, Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger Lisbon, Lisbon
2016
A Sky for Santa Isabel, Santa Isabel Church, Lisbon
Michael Biberstein, Galerie Rosenberg, Zürich
Paysage en apothéose, Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris
2015
Michael Biberstein, Giorgio Persano, Turin
A Luz de Lisboa, Torreão Poente do Terreiro do Paço, Lisbon
Quinte Essence, Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris
Nocturnal images, Aargauer Kunstverein, Aargau
2014
A Sky For Michael Biberstein, Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris
2013
Galerie Rosenberg, Zürich
2012
Galeria Cristina Guerra, Lisbon
2011
Clusters and Targets, Galerie Tanit, Munich
Flatland Redux, Guimarães
Aqui e Alem, with Rui Sanches; Pavilhão Branco, Lisbon
2010
From Blue to Red and Back Again, St. Josef, Solothurn
project for the ceiling of Santa Isabel – maquette; Appleton Square, Lisbon
2009
Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris
Galerie Jamileh Weber, Zürich
Galeria Pedro Oliveira, Porto
works on paper, Appleton Square, Lisbon
2008
Cristina Guerra, Lisbon
Kunsthaus Skt. Josef, Solothurn
2007
Galeria Pedro Oliveira, Porto
Galerie Tanit, Munich
2006
Galerie Cristina Guerra, Lisbon
Galeria Miguel Marcos, Barcelona
Galerie Staffelbach, Aarau
CAM, Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
2005
Galerie Tanit, Munich
Kunsthaus St. Josef, Solothurn
2004
Galerie Jamileh Weber, Zurich
Galeria Cristina Guerra, Lisbon
2003
Compressores y Aceleradores, Museo Extremeño de Arte Contemoranea, Bada-joz
Galerie Staffelbach, Lenzburg
2002
works on paper, Gersag Gallery, Emmen
Kunsthalle Helmhaus, Zurich
Kunsthaus St.Josef, Solothurn
2001
…towards silence, Center for Contemporary Art Rudolfinum, Prague
The Compulsive Image, Kunsthalle Tallinn
Kunsthalle, Brno
Pablo Stähli Gallery, Zurich
Staffelbach Gallery, Lenzburg (with Hugo Suter)
1999
Tanit Gallery, Munich
Pedro Oliveira Gallery, Porto
Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague
Cesar Gallery, Lisbon
1998
Luís Serpa Gallery, Lisbon
Drawings and Prints, Pablo Stähli Gallery, Zurich
Kunsthalle, Brno
1997
Continua Gallery, San Gimignano (with Juan Muñoz)
Horizons (wall-drawings) Cultura Centre, Paraty (Brazil)
Gefärbte Wasser und Horizonte, Institute for Modern Art, Nürnberg
Svestka Gallery, Prague
Two Indians Show, Gallery Staffelbach, Lenzburg (with Christoph Gossweiler)
Mainly Monochromes, Vogel + Gloor Gallery, Aarau
Haldemann Gallery, Bernee
1996
Pedro Oliveira Gallery, Porto
Pablo Stähli Gallery, Zurich
Assirio & Alvim Gallery, Lisbon
Roberto Medici Gallery, Solothurn
Marianne Grob Gallery, Berlin
1995
Ganzfelder (All-over fields), Kunstverein Heilbronn
Stirnwände (Headwalls), Kunstverein Freiburg
Der Erste Farbsatz und die Sieben Grossformate (The First Color Set and the Serven Large Formats, Kunsthalle Winterthur
Paint it Black (with Fernando Calhau), Museum of Contemporary Art, Funchal
Drawings (with Fernando Calhau) Porta 33, Funchal
Sander + Ebert Gallery, Darmstadt
Pablo Stähli Gallery, Zurich
A Dificil Travessia dos Alpes, Center for Contemporary Art
Fundação Gulbenkian, Lisbon
Aspects of Landscape(with Ian McKiever), Al Bustan, Beirut
1994
Tanit Gallery, Munich
Pablo Stähli Gallery, Zurich
Gisele Linder Gallery, Basel
Pedro Oliveira Gallery, Porto
Tanit Gallery, Cologne
Medici Gallery, Solothurn
1993
Lüpke Gallery, Frankfurt
Art Center Klingentalgraben, Basel
Comicos-Serpa Gallery, Lisbon
1992
Montenay Gallery, Paris
Pablo Stähli Gallery, Zurich
Vom Sitzen und vom Fliegen – eine Landschaftsübersicht ( About Sitting and Flying – an Overview of Landscape, Museum of Art Solothurn, Solothurn
Das Grosse Anziehende und die Unendliche Weite (The Great Attractor and the Big Wide), Kunstverein Salzburg
Tanit Gallery, Munich
1991
Marga Paz Gallery, Madrid
On Vernet, Landscape, the Sublime and the Beautiful, and what Relevance they might still have to Contemporary Art, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
Lüpke Gallery, Frankfurt
Comicos-Serpa Gallery, Lisbon
Gallery Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
1990
Lang & O’Hara Gallery, New York
Gallery Tanit, Munich
1989
Die Apotheose des Menschlichen Geistes im Sehen der Landschaft, Kunstverein for the Rhinelands und Westfalia, Düsseldorf
1988
Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels
Comicos Gallery, Lisbon
1987
Marga Paz Gallery, Madrid
Algumas Imagens de Sintra Moirisca, National Palace, Sintra (photographs)
1986
Lydia Megert Gallery, Berne
1983
Peter Noser Gallery, Zurich
Lydia Megert Gallery, Berne
1982
Wittenbrink Gallery, Regensburg
1981
Arta, Lisbon
Centro de Artes Plasticas, Coimbra
1980
Erika + Otto Friedrich Gallery, Berne
1979
Kunstraum Annette Baak, Cologne
Modulo Gallery, Porto
Modulo Gallery, Lisbon
1978
Lydia Megert Gallery, Berne
Erika + Otto Friedrich Gallery, Berne
1974
Medici Gallery, Solothurn