"Sigmar Polke was born Feb. 13, 1941, in Oels, in the Silesian region of eastern Germany in what is now western Poland. His family, with five or six children, fled west to Tubingen in 1945 as the Russian Army advanced but still wound up in East Germany as World War II ended. In 1953 they moved to East Berlin and crossed over to West Berlin on the subway. The young Mr. Polke pretended to be asleep to contribute to the air of normality." (Smith, 2010)
Smith, R. (2010) Sigmar Polke, Whose Sly Works Shaped Contemporary Painting, Dies at 69. [Online] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/arts/design/12polke.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 [05/07/2010]
