Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger passed away on Monday due to complications which resulted from a fall after tripping down a set of stairs inside his Zürich home. Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger was born in the Swiss city of Chur in 1940. His father, a chemist, viewed art as a "breadless profession" and strongly encouraged him to enter pharmaceutics, Giger recalls. Yet he moved in 1962 to Zürich, where he studied Architecture and industrial design at the School of Applied Arts until 1970.

Giger's style and thematic execution have been influential. His design for Ridley Scott's 1979 'Alien' was inspired by his painting Necronom IV and earned him an Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects in 1980. His books of paintings, particularly Necronomicon and Necronomicon II (1985) and the frequent appearance of his art in Omni magazine continued his rise to international prominence. Giger is also well known for artwork on several music recording albums.

Giger suffers from night terrors and his paintings are all to some extent inspired by his experiences with that particular sleep disorder. He studied interior and industrial design at the School of Commercial Art in Zurich (from 1962 to 1965) and made his first paintings as a means of art therapy.

In 1998 Giger acquired the Château St. Germain in Gruyères, Switzerland, and it now houses the H. R. Giger Museum, a permanent repository of his work. The artist lived and worked in Zurich with his wife, Carmen Maria Scheifele Giger, who is the Director of the H.R. Giger Museum.

Source: Wikipedia