The work of the philosopher Walter Biemel (1918–2015) deals with questions of the philosophy of art and the related fields of visual art, literature and music. Biemel was significantly involved in editing the writings of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. From 1962 he held the chair of philosophy at the RWTH Aachen, and in 1976 he moved to the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, where he represented the subject of art philosophy and sought dialogue with the arts.
Walter Biemel has been associated with Stiftung Insel Hombroich since its beginnings. He founded the colloquium series Hombroich : Philosophie and was involved in the Raumortlabor project (‘Hombroich spaceplacelab’).
During his lifetime, Biemel donated his extensive library and his entire private archive to the Stiftung Insel Hombroich, including correspondence, lecture notes and manuscripts on phenomenology, Martin Heidegger and the visual arts of the 20th century.