Near infrared absorber materials for organic solar cells are needed to cover larger parts of the solar spectrum and, therefore, achieve higher short circuit current densities. We present a push-pull chromophore with a quinoid merocyanine structure (QM1) as donor material in vacuum deposited organic solar cells with a thin film absorption up to 1100 nm. A blue shift of the main absorption peaks of the thin film as compared to the solution indicates H-aggregation of the material. Morphology investigations using scanning electron microscopy and electron diffraction reveal a crystalline growth in nanowires, with lengths of hundreds of nanometers to a few micrometers, and diameters of a few tens of nanometers. Organic solar cells incorporating a blend of QM1 with ${\text{C}}_{60}$ reach power conversion efficiencies up to 1.9% under 1 sun illumination with an external quantum efficiency of over 18% from 600 nm to 1000 nm.