Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz

Georg Baselitz

German
b. 1938
/

Overview

'I began with drawings and paintings, in a way like digging, drilling, eavesdropping, ruminating, mining, as I thought about what lies behind or below. And so, transmuted into lines and forms, I have transported myself from my world into another one…'

Georg Baselitz has had a profound influence on international art since 1980 and is indisputably one of the most important artists of our time. He shaped a new identity for German art in the second half of the 20th century; in reaction to the trauma and tragedy of the Second World War, he developed an artistic vocabulary which draws on the work of his forebears, whilst remaining unique and wholly individual. Since then, Baselitz has consistently renewed his practice through formal developments, often responding to art history and his own extensive oeuvre to develop his central themes through an ever-evolving, yet distinct, mode of artistic expression.

The artist has been painting his compositions upside down since 1969. For Baselitz, this novel format was a way of emptying form of its content, navigating between abstraction and figuration, and revolutionising a medium that was then regarded as irredeemably conventional. His directly tactile method of painting with his fingers in the 1970s encouraged a freer use of colour and material that would come to the fore in his expressionist colour fields of the 1980s. This was a seminal decade for the artist, opening with his selection to represent Germany at the 1980 Venice Biennale alongside Anselm Kiefer, which marked his first foray into sculpture.

Georg Baselitz has had a profound influence on international art since 1980 and is indisputably one of the most important artists of our time. He shaped a new identity for German art in the second half of the 20th century; in reaction to the trauma and tragedy of the Second World War, he developed an artistic vocabulary which draws on the work of his forebears, whilst remaining unique and wholly individual. Since then, Baselitz has consistently renewed his practice through formal developments, often responding to art history and his own extensive oeuvre to develop his central themes through an ever-evolving, yet distinct, mode of artistic expression.

The artist has been painting his compositions upside down since 1969. For Baselitz, this novel format was a way of emptying form of its content, navigating between abstraction and figuration, and revolutionising a medium that was then regarded as irredeemably conventional. His directly tactile method of painting with his fingers in the 1970s encouraged a freer use of colour and material that would come to the fore in his expressionist colour fields of the 1980s. This was a seminal decade for the artist, opening with his selection to represent Germany at the 1980 Venice Biennale alongside Anselm Kiefer, which marked his first foray into sculpture. 

The urge towards constant innovation has been present throughout his career, as in the Remix Paintings he has been creating since 2006 that re-examine the iconography of past works. By revisiting his own motifs and integrating subtle references to art history, Baselitz offers a reflection on the significance of painting itself. Asked about this self-referentiality, he stated: 'I kept sinking into myself, and everything I do is being pulled out of myself.' In recent works that feature the figures of the artist and his wife Elke, Baselitz engages in the struggle of representation, the inescapability of subjectivity, and the representation of the self through a significant other. He has also introduced a new technique in recent works created using a transfer method, in which the lightness, boldness and vivid colouration is conceived as an homage to Roy Lichtenstein.

Baselitz, who has worked with the gallery for over 20 years, lives between three different locations: Lake Ammersee in Bavaria, Salzburg, and Imperia in Liguria, Italy. Early in his career, his work was included in documenta 5 (1972) and 7 (1982). Following the 1980 Venice Biennale, he participated in a series of influential exhibitions: A New Spirit in Painting (1981) and German Art in the Twentieth Century (1985) at the Royal Academy of Arts, London; and Zeitgeist (1982) at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, presented his first comprehensive retrospective in the United States in 1995, which toured to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; and Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Further significant retrospectives were organised by the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, in 1996, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 2007. In 2006 and 2007, the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, and the Albertina, Vienna, were the first to present his Remix cycle.

A retrospective of Baselitz's sculptures was held at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (2011–12) and his Avignon series was presented at the Venice Biennale in 2015. His Heldenbilder (Hero Paintings) and Neue Typen (New Types) were shown at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt (2016), travelling to the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; and Guggenheim Bilbao. To mark the artist's 80th birthday in 2018, comprehensive solo exhibitions were held at the Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; and Musée Unterlinden, Colmar, France. In 2019, he was elected to the ​​Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became the first living artist to have an exhibition at the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, followed by his largest retrospective to date at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in 2021.

 

Photo: Martin Müller

Videos

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Georg Baselitz adler barfuß
adler barfuß
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Georg Baselitz Baselitz '23
Baselitz '23
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Georg Baselitz Zero Dom (2021)
Zero Dom (2021)
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Georg Baselitz Hotel garni
Hotel garni
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Georg Baselitz Freitag war es schön interview
Freitag war es schön interview
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From the Studio Georg Baselitz
Georg Baselitz
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Georg Baselitz Time
Time
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Georg Baselitz A Focus on the 1980s
A Focus on the 1980s
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Georg Baselitz Descente
Descente
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Georg Baselitz Le Côté Sombre
Le Côté Sombre
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Georg Baselitz Das Negativ - New Sculptures
Das Negativ - New Sculptures
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Georg Baselitz & Emilio Vedova
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Group Exhibition Eurasia. A View on Painting
Eurasia. A View on Painting
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Group Exhibition 30 JAHRE / 30 YEARS
30 JAHRE / 30 YEARS
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Group Exhibition Disaster: The End of Days
Disaster: The End of Days

Exhibitions

Publications

Georg Baselitz adler barfuß

Georg Baselitz
adler barfuß

2024

Publications

Georg Baselitz adler barfuß

Georg Baselitz

adler barfuß
2024
Georg Baselitz: adler barfuß
50.00
Georg Baselitz La boussole indique le nord

Georg Baselitz

La boussole indique le nord
2023
Georg Baselitz: La boussole indique le nord
50.00
Georg Baselitz Hotel garni

Georg Baselitz

Hotel garni
2021
Georg Baselitz: Hotel garni
50.00
Georg Baselitz Vedova accendi la luce

Georg Baselitz

Vedova accendi la luce
2021
Texts Philip Rylands, Alfredo Bianchini, Fabrizio Gazzarri
Georg Baselitz: Vedova accendi la luce
29.00
Georg Baselitz Freitag war es schön

Georg Baselitz

Freitag war es schön
2021
Georg Baselitz: Freitag war es schön
50.00
Georg Baselitz A Focus on the 1980s

Georg Baselitz

A Focus on the 1980s
2018
Georg Baselitz: A Focus on the 1980s
35.00
Georg Baselitz Descente

Georg Baselitz

Descente
2017
Georg Baselitz: Descente
50.00
Emilio Vedova & Georg Baselitz

Emilio Vedova & Georg Baselitz

2015
Emilio Vedova & Georg Baselitz
42.00
Georg Baselitz Le côté sombre

Georg Baselitz

Le côté sombre
2013
Georg Baselitz: Le côté sombre
50.00
Georg Baselitz Das Negativ: eine andere Umkehrung

Georg Baselitz

Das Negativ: eine andere Umkehrung
2012
Georg Baselitz: Das Negativ: eine andere Umkehrung
60.00
Georg Baselitz Volk Ding Zero

Georg Baselitz

Volk Ding Zero
2010
Georg Baselitz: Volk Ding Zero
35.00
Georg Baselitz Verdunkelung

Georg Baselitz

Verdunkelung
2009
Georg Baselitz: Verdunkelung
35.00
Georg Baselitz Remix

Georg Baselitz

Remix
2008
Georg Baselitz: Remix
35.00
Georg Baselitz Russenbilder

Georg Baselitz

Russenbilder
2007
Georg Baselitz: Russenbilder
35.00

News and Press

News and Press

Museum Exhibitions

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