Georg Baselitz - The Heroes

JUNE 30 TO OCTOBER 23, 2016 The painter and sculptor Georg Baselitz is one of the most important contemporary German artists. The painter and sculptor has always inspired and revolutionized the old familiar, but has also often provoked and agitated. This can be seen, among other things, in the way people reacted to the scandal surrounding his first exhibition. At the time, two of his paintings were confiscated and the artist was accused of pornography. If today this would ensure that Baselitz would be happy about increased media interest and a resulting increase in the number of visitors, the consequence back then was that no one came to the exhibition. This is why the curators of the exhibition GEORGE BASELITZ. DIE HELDEN need not worry. For this first comprehensive monographic special exhibition on the ensemble, which was created in just 12 months between 1965 and 66, not only reveals the great topicality that these pictures still have after fifty years. It is also a stirring example of the provocative, thoughtful, and non-conformist oeuvre of Georg Baselitz, who, as an artist of 27 at the time, consciously set himself against established political as well as artistic systems. This last exhibition, co-initiated by Max Hollein while he was still director of the Städel Museum, an office he has since relinquished, is an impressive farewell performance. Hollein, who now heads the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco, travelled to Frankfurt once again for a few days to set up and open the exhibition. The great response this special exhibition received from the press alone should once again ensure that Max Hollein's time in Frankfurt will be remembered in an extremely positive light. GEORGE BASELITZ. DIE HELDEN shows a total of 70 works on two levels, 40 of which are paintings and 30 works on paper. The paintings are given plenty of room to unfold in the spacious exhibition area. The result is an exhibition that is large in the truest sense of the word, showing only a short section of Georg Baselitz's oeuvre, but at the same time celebrating his oeuvre as a whole. DIE HELDEN shows works "whose monumental figures, painted aggressively and defiantly, still seem ambivalent, fateful and vulnerable today. They are battered soldiers, resigned painters, whose latent failure is as inscribed as their uncertain future. The fragility and contradictoriness of the "Heroes" in terms of content finds its equivalent in the formal. The figure, always given a central frontal position and clearly contoured, contrasts with the wildness of the choice of colours and the vehemence of the painting style. Loans from important international museum and private collections provide the public with a comprehensive view of these icons of German post-war art, which Baselitz, then only 27 years old, developed in 1965/66 with explosive productivity. After its launch at Frankfurt's Städel Museum, the large-scale exhibition will travel on to Moderna Museet Stockholm, Palazzo delle Esposizioni Rome, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao." Opening Hours: Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun + Holidays 10am-6pm, Thu + Fri 10am-2pm Special opening hours: Mon 3 Oct, 10.00-18.00 Admission: 14 euros, reduced 12 euros, family ticket 24 euros; free admission for children under 12; groups of 10 or more: reduced admission price per person. For groups, advance registration is required by phone +49(0)69-605098-200 or info@staedelmuseum.de required