After studying at the Stuttgart Art Academy, Oscar Zügel’s work developed from New Objectivity towards abstraction, with the themes of his paintings increasingly reflecting a critical view of his era. Works of Zügel’s were included in the exhibition “Drawings and Paintings” which was closed in spring 1933 on the grounds that it contained “degenerate” art. Following this, a planned retrospective of his work was cancelled, his studio was searched and paintings confiscated. In late July 1935, denunciation of both the artist and his work prompted him to flee to Tossa de Mar. The Spanish town had hosted an artists’ colony of the international avant-garde since the 1920s, and in the 1930s it offered a safe haven for German exiles. They included Eugen Spiro and Fred Uhlman, who were Zügel’s guests. Well integrated in this inspiring community, Zügel experienced an artistic renewal. This happy time lasted until 1936, when mistrust of German exiles increased in the wake of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco-Hitler alliance.

As the denunciations began Zügel managed to flee to Argentina. The decisive factor in his choice of country was his German-Argentinian wife, whose inheritance of a plot of land in 1935 made a new start possible. Zügel supported his family by working as a farmer, which left little time for his art. Once denunciations against him began in Argentina, he returned to Spanish exile in 1950, where he was once again chiefly occupied as an artist.