Strawalde is a contemporary artist with an avid following in Germany. He is one of the most remarkable and talented artists of Germany, both as a painter and a film-maker.

Strawalde was born and lived in East Germany. Many of Strawalde's fellow artists and even his students such as A.R. Penck (Ralf Winkler) fled East Germany for a better life in the west. Strawalde, however, remained in the communist East because family ties mattered more to him. This selfless act hampered wider recognition of his art. In 1961, he was excluded from the Art Association, reducing his ability to exhibit his work even in his native country.

With a re-unified free Germany, Strawalde has gained the recognition he was due. His paintings hang in prominent museums throughout Germany, and in the Federal Chancellery in Berlin. He has won many signi cant prizes for his work. He has received Germany's Federal Cross of Merit, and in France, he has been awarded the title of Knight of Arts and Literature.