Menachem Messinger was born in a village near Zamosc, Poland, to a family of blacksmithing artisans (Messinger is German for "smith"), who engaged in design of holy appurtenances and ritual objects for synagogues and churches. As a boy he played the violin and the mandolin, took up woodcarving, wrote poetry, and was active in a local Yiddish theater. He immigrated to
Palestine in 1932, and settled with his family in Haifa, where he worked in construction and later as a contractor (among others, he built a sauna on Mt. Carmel in 1963). In 1967, following a heart attack, nearing the age of 70, he began painting.

- The discovery -
Messinger's daughter, actress Hana Eden, brought some of her father's paintings to the Haifa Goldman Gallery, where shortly thereafter-only a year after he began painting-he had a solo exhibition. Curator Pola Eichenbaum, who encountered his works accidentally, was impressed by their unique qualities, and in 1969 organized a solo exhibition for him at the Tel Aviv Museum.

- The work -
Messinger's paintings may be described as landscape paintings; whether he depicts Haifa, Jerusalem, the Temple, or his childhood village, however, the general view is imaginary, typif ied by a legendary air. He observes the landscape from above; instead of generating a sense of depth via elements which conceal others, he superimposes the landscape details to create a sense of upward growth. Birds and dragons f ly in the sky, swans swim in pools, and red and yellow hues lend the paintings a golden look. Most of his paintings are executed in gouache, topped with a layer of gold and silver paints.