Günter Fruhtrunk was born in Monaco in 1923. From 1940 to 1941 he studied architecture at the Technischen Hochschule in Monaco. He interupted his studies to volunteer in many projects. During this period, at the outset of II World War, he began to design and create works using watercolor in order to deal with his inner tension regarding the war. In 1945 he decided to go back to studying architecture and went to Neufrach where he studied painting with William Straube, a pupil of Hölzel and Matisse, until 1950.
He opened his first gallery exhibition at the Galerie Der Kunstspiegel in Freiburg in 1947. The following year he met Willi Baumeister and then Julius Bissier in 1949. In 1954, after he received a scholarship from the Landes Baden-Württemberg and the French Governments, he moved to Paris. He participated in collective “Peintures et Scultures non figurative en Alemagne d'aujourd'hui” at Cercle Volnay in Paris. From 1955 to 1961, and then again in 1965 and 1969, he took part in various exhibitions at Salons des Réalité Nouvelles. He was a contributor, in 1956, to the exhibit “50 Jahre abstrakte Malerei” at the Galerie Kreuze in Paris and, in 1957, he participated at the Salon des Comparaisons in Parigi.
In 1960 he opened a solo show at the Denise René Gallery in Paris. The same year he participated in a grand exhibit entitled “Konstruktive abstrakte Malerei von Malevič bis Morgen”, which took place in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. In 1961 he won the "Jean arp" prize from Kulturkreis des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Industrie of Cologne. In 1962, 1964, and 1966 he undertook solo gallery shows at the Galleria Pagani del Grattacielo in Milano. Between these, in 1963 and 1965, he exhibited at the Galerie Charles Garibaldi in Marseilles. In 1963 the Museum am Ostwall dedicated a show in his honor. In 1965 he undertook a big work for the city of Leverkusen (11x5,5 mt). The same year he exbited at Cologne's Galerie der Spiegel. In 1966 he won the silver medal at the "Prix d'Europe" in Ostenda. 1967 saw Fruhtrunk work at the Academy of Arts in Monaco, participated in a large exhibit at Salon de Mai of Paris, and other shows in Vienna, Innsbruck and Frankfurt. In 1968 and 1969 he took part in exhibitions at the Salon des Comparaisons, Salon Grands and Jeunes in Paris. Following these, he won the "Burda" prize for painting from the Grosse Kunstausstellung in Monaco. In 1969 he installed a gigantic mosaic on the four sides of the Auditorium Maximum of the High School for Engineers in Düsseldorf (measuring 7x30 mt each) and had other exhibits at persnal galleries in Lubecca, Hannover and Mannheim.
In 1970 he exhibited in solo show at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, at the Denise René Gallery in Paris, at the Hans Mayer of Krefeld, in various gallery in Saarbrücken, Venice, Rotterdam and Rapperswil. His first exhibit at Galleria Lorenzelli of Bergamo took place in February 1971. Two years later he personally exhibited at Galleria Lorenzelli in Milano. The same year, 1973, he exhibited at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Monaco, at the Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe and at the Museum Bochum. In 1974 his new pieces were shown at Paris' Denise René Gallery and Cologne's Galerie Der Spiegel. In 1977 Fruhtrunk was invited to "Europalia" in Brussels and he exhibited at the Museum Quadrat of Bottrop.
Günter Fruhtrunk committed suicide in his Munich studio on December 12, 1982. From the years of his death until today numerous exhibition throughout Europe and the world have been had.