Overview
This exhibition brings together two of Arnulf Rainer's celebrated series on the occasion of the artist’s 95th birthday: the Goya and Landscape paintings, created between 1983 and 1992.
In the Goya series, Rainer pays tribute to Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), whose art explored dark, surreal themes that foreshadowed modern existentialism and abstract art, and was deeply attuned to the complexities of his time. Rainer probes the paintings of the Spanish master by reinterpreting them through expressive overpainting – the finished works oscillate between homage and radical transformation. Some pieces in this series depict faces, a recurring motif in Rainer’s work throughout his career, while others show semi-abstract oval structures reminiscent of heads, tunnels or archways.
Rainer's Landscapes combine depictions of nature with his characteristic gestural overpainting. The works express his exploration of nature as a means to convey inner states, fluctuating between abstraction and figuration. In contrast to his earlier works, which are characterised by the overpainting of existing imagery, here nature and landscape take centre stage as autonomous motifs. Individual elements, such as hills, trees or streams, remain recognisable, but are fragmented and placed in new contexts through overpainting and gestural interventions.
