Missing, Lost and Stolen HR Giger Artworks

Most of the artworks below have changed hands between collectors without my knowledge and, therefore, 
are lost to me. This is especially unfortunate in the case of paintings, since it is very important that they 
could be included in future retrospectives of my work. Having knowledge of their present location would 
also allow me to contact their current custodians and arrange for the opportunity to have these paintings 
professionally rephotographed because I do not have any good transparencies left from them, which are 
always needed by my publishers. 

In the case of missing paintings, the HR Giger Museum offers a $ 5,000 reward to anyone who will supply 
information leading to the recovery of these originals. For information leading to the return of the missing 
table, the dog armor, mask, or drawings, the reward is $ 1,000. Please be assured that all contacts will be 
held in the strictest confidence.

H.R.Giger, July 2008

Please contact me through my WebAgent!

These two Alien paintings were discovered to be missing from the storage room of Nouvelle, a restaurant owned 
by Giger’s (then) agent, Ueli Steinle. Their absence was discovered in 1986 or 1987, shortly before their intended 
shipment for exhibition in Japan.

Work No. 217 and 218, ELP I and ELP II (Brain Salad Surgery album cover paintings), 1973, acrylic on paper, 
34 x 34cm each. Stolen together in Prague in 2005. More details…

A series of four unique self-portraits created specially for the documentary film, “Giger’s Dream Quest” 1981, 
at the request of the film’s director, Robert Kopuit. They are airbrush acrylic on photographs, 45 x 35cm each. 
Last known location: The Netherlands. They were sent to Holland for inclusion in the movie at the request of the 
film’s director Robert Koupit and the cameraman Joost Dankelman, but were not used or ever returned.

This painting disappeared after Giger’s retrospective in 
1984 at the Seedamm-Kulturzentrum in Pfäffikon.

These two Alien paintings also disappeared from the same storage room in the Restaurant Nouvelle. Apparently,
it was not a safe place to store paintings. 

Galerie Carré Blanc (one of the 700 years of Waiting series of drawings), 
1991, ink on transcop, 30 x 21cm. was lost at a train-station in Switzerland 
by an absent minded collector.

Work No. 701b, Biomechanical Matrix Small Table, 
1990-91, aluminum, 46 x 100 x 110cm. Last known 
location: Limelight nightclub, New York City. 
It was one of four tables on loan for the Giger Room
installation. One table disappeared from the room 
during the brief period of three days after the club 
closed and before all the artwork was moved out in 
January 2002. More information about the Giger Room…

Additionally, three more artworks are missing, of which no photographs exist.

1. A drawing similar in style, subject matter and size to the two missing Shaft 
artworks above (025, 025).


2. One of Giger’s Expanded Drawings series disappeared from the exhibition 
at Galerie Art Magazin in Zurich in May/June 1988. 

3. One of three polyester masks in the exhibition, “Alien dans ses Meubles” at the 
Château de Gruyères, in Gruyères, 1990, disappeared during the show.