While continuing to work at the mines, a job he hated, he dreamed of becoming an artist and moving to Paris.

He lived in a maid's room on the seventh floor of a walkup with no heating but enjoyed the artistic scene in Paris at the time.

In 1967, Haessle met an American artist, Lucienne Weinberger, and his curiosity about the world continued to grow.

In 1970, Haessle and his wife, Lucienne, moved to Westbeth, the recently opened artist-in-residence space.

They were among the first people to move into the Artists' Housing in 1970 and considered themselves urban pioneers in an area of vacant warehouses, the abandoned West Side Elevated Highway, and rotting piers.

Haessle and a group of artists invested all their savings to purchase one of the last manufacturing buildings in SoHo.

His neighbor, Donald Judd occupying an entire building which today is his foundation.

"30 Ans de Peinture," by David Shapiro art historian and poet, published a poem in 1995 dedicated to the artist.

Mizuma & Kips Gallery has represented Haessle at multiple art fairs in the U.S. and Korea.