Georg Baselitz, 1960-2008

In cooperation with Museum der Moderne Salzburg, and in close collaboration with the artist, Galerie Rudolfinum has prepared an insight into the works of one of the most significant present-day German artists, Georg Baselitz (born in 1938).

The Georg Baselitz / Paintings 1960-2008 exhibition presents a wide overview of Baselitz's painting creations. It captures all of its phases and shows the painter's individual style, which, since the 1960's, has been characterized by the distinctive use of non-traditional painting techniques and provocative selection of motifs. In the end, and in spite of all experimentation, Baselitz's style remains true to the objective illustrating of reality. None of this is changed by the fact that since 1969, the painter has been showing his motifs – figures and objects – standing upside down. The method of inverted depiction was incidentally the most important step in Baselitz's creation.

Through this method, he makes our vision unsure, and he also makes unsure the idea of a visual space built in perspective. Baselitz creates paintings spontaneously, and his energetic painting and unconventional visual compositions exceed regularity and exclude any form of categorization. Through all of his works, Georg Baselitz proves that it is always possible to find new ways and methods of painting, even despite the fact that this genre of art is often declared to be dead.

The painting works of Georg Baselitz have not yet been – when compared to graphic works - independently exhibited in the Czech Republic; the works were only represented at several joint exhibitions. Nevertheless, the artist – as the leading representative of neo-expressionism, next to A. R. Penck and Anselm Kiefer, for example – influenced an entire line of our artists. The exhibition at Galerie Rudolfinum shall also contribute to a better understanding of one of the greatest presenters of German and world painting.

The exhibition project also includes accompanying and education programs.

Exhibition concept: Toni Stooss Exhibition curator: Petr Nedoma

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with Museum der Moderne Salzburg.

Georg Baselitz, 1960-2008
Kuratoren: Toni Stooss, Petr Nedoma