My Fortunate Life

At the tail-end of the fifties, a young man from the Swabian provinces sets out for Paris. He has studied art history and put in some time as a journalist, but it is his insatiable appetite for contemporary art and literature that provides him with the keys to unlock the secrets of this fabulous metropolis. He may not be aware of it yet, but Werner Spies will spend the rest of his life in Paris. Gifted with an exceptional talent for making friends, he gets to know Beckett, Ernst, Picasso and many other great artists on close terms and introduces them to the German public via radio programmes and press articles. He also works as a literary agent, scientist, curator and art collector: a polymath who is eventually appointed professor at the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts as well as running the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris for three years.