Georg Baselitz

Georg Baselitz enters a dialogue with the Old Masters-invited by Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum the acclaimed German painter and sculptor engages in a visual conversation. Baselitz himself curated the selection of works, focusing exclusively on nude painting. Both the exhibition and the catalogue revolve around this elemental human state, and its fundamental role in European art.
From the beginning of his career, Baselitz's work has been informed by a pronounced awareness of art history, above all Mannerism's breaking of classical rules inspired him. From the encounter of Baselitz's works with historical figures of an idolized beauty, captivating insights into the history of nude painting as well as into the topicality of painting itself emerge. The carefully chosen juxtapositions open up a space, in which one can reflect and experience the essence of painting anew.

GEORG BASELITZ (*1938, Deutschbaselitz) is without a doubt one of the most influential painters and sculptors of our time. His works eludes a categorization, but has continuously revolved around finding a new approach to update classic figurative painting. In a celebrated turning point in 1969, he literally turned his paintings upside down and thereby managed to change the public's viewing habits, and to sharpen perceptions.