Georg
Baselitz

Georg Baselitz garnered attention in the art world with his revolutionary approach of presenting his subjects upside-down. His inverted paintings, which began in the late 1960s, challenged viewers' perceptions and traditional artistic norms. This distinctive technique allowed Baselitz to emphasise the artifice of painting, focusing on form and composition over representational accuracy. His iconic The Big Night Down The Drain, though not inverted, caused a scandal for its raw, provocative imagery, setting the stage for his later radical reinventions like Portrait of Elke I.

Baselitz’s exposure to West German and other Western art movements, combined with his experiences of post-war Germany, informed his visceral and often confrontational style. His works are marked by a sense of dislocation and fractured identity, reflecting the tumultuous social and political landscapes of his formative years.

While Baselitz is best known for his paintings, his oeuvre encompasses a wide range of media including sculpture, printmaking, and drawing. His sculptural works often exhibit the same expressive, gestural qualities found in his paintings. Carved from wood, these sculptures are frequently painted and maintain his characteristic inversion, further blurring the lines between genres and media.