Fondation de l’Hermitage Exhibits Georg Baselitz

Sunday, 23 July 2006 19:35

Lausanne, Switzerland - As a major artist on the contemporary scene, the German painter Georg Baselitz has the place of honour this summer at the Fondation de l’Hermitage.  With about a hundred oils, drawings, prints and sculptures mostly from the artist’s personal collection, the exhibition gives a more essential as well as a more intimate vision of Baselitz’s intense work now shown on a par with the greatest, from Picasso to Bacon.

Born in 1938, Baselitz was among the tiny galaxy of Neo-Expressionist German artists in the Seventies, sometimes known as «Neue Wilden», who focused on deformation, the force of matter and the vibrancy of colours.  His powerful, monumental creations are some of the most assertive and disturbing of the 20th century.

Famous for his upside-down images, Baselitz, the subversive painter, concentrates in fact essentially on aspects of the painting’s formal organization.  Since 1969, whether painting or drawing heroic figures, landscapes, still lifes or self-portraits, he has inverted the motifs of his pictures.  This disorientation renews the fascination linking the viewer with traditional figuration and enhances the image’s attraction.  As the subject matter is less important than its visual realization, the artist has varied his way of painting over the years.  He initially highlighted the interaction of superimposing layers of matter and his style was so ardent it sometimes seems close to Edvard Munch’s.  Since 1990 it has evolved towards more transparency and fluidity.

This retrospective selection, spanning the period from 1960 to 2005, takes us back over the artist’s career and proposes a series of core themes.  It is an invitation to a fascinating painting lesson pinpointing the significant stages of a coherent, relentless quest for the brush-born image.

Many of these larger canvases were painted under his foot, on the ground.  Occasional footprints mark the artist's movement across the surface of the picture.  The figures are painted as you see them; the canvas is not turned upside-down at the end.  Over 13 feet high, Baselitz couples Slavic folk motifs with images of his family.  He has included himself as a child, his wife Elke - as a girl and as a young adult - his History of the SiteFondation de l’Hermitage.

In 1841, the banker Charles-Juste Bugnion bought the land called The Hermitage, on a hill overlooking Lausanne.  The superb view over the lake and the cathedral had already been immortalized by Camille Corot during his stay in 1825.

Ch.-J. Bugnion asked architect Louis Wenger to design a residence with him and from 1842 to 1850 he had the superb family mansion built and the magnificent park landscaped with rare species of trees.  The villa, with part of the park, was given to the City of Lausanne by the descendants in 1976.  The mansion has been carefully restored to its original splendour.

Visit Fondation de l’Hermitage at : http://en.fondation-hermitage.ch/