Six Decades of Artistic Evolution
With a versatile, radical artistic output spanning six decades, the late Georg Baselitz ranks among the most significant and successful German painters of his generation.
In the mid-20th century, his provocative, expressive paintings significantly contributed to the renewal of figurative post-war painting. In the years and decades that followed, Baselitz subjected his painting to constant evolution, resulting in an oeuvre of great thematic and stylistic richness, in which the human figure—in its most diverse forms and often entirely devoid of a narrative dimension—always plays a central role, both in terms of subject matter and concept.

Among his most significant early creative phases and exemplary key works are, among others, the so-called “Hero Paintings” and “Fraktur Paintings” of the 1960s, followed by the first upside-down paintings in 1969. Baselitz then worked on successive groups of works in which he experimented with great mastery using new painterly techniques and different aesthetic approaches. He drew inspiration from history, European and American art, and his extensive knowledge of countless influential artists, including Edvard Munch, Otto Dix, and Willem de Kooning. Later, he created the so-called “Russian Paintings” as well as self-reflexive series such as the “Remix” series, to which the present work belongs.

Remix: Retrospective, Self-Criticism, and Radical Innovation
Since 2005, Georg Baselitz has explored the idea of taking visual motifs from his 1960s paintings and drawings, critically reinterpreting them, and transforming them into entirely new works. With the help of photocopies, drawings, and illustrations from catalogs, the artist delves into the past to bring his own works into the present by employing different painting techniques and a mindset that has been shaped by five decades of experience. “Baselitz’s visual universe [functions] like a hall of mirrors, in which his own images merge with art-historical models to form new pictorial compositions.” (Press release for the retrospective “Georg Baselitz” at the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen)

The “Fraktur” paintings from 1965–1968 are based on drawings that the artist said depict his wife, Elke Kretzschmar. At the time, he wasn’t entirely sure; today, he knows it to be fact.
“Back then, I had the feeling that these drawings had only partially become pictures. Many of them didn’t seem to work as paintings. Today, I take these old drawings out again and tell myself: This is worth it. You absolutely have to do this. It has to become a larger painting,” explains the artist (quoted from: Exhibition catalog Georg Baselitz: New Paintings and a Sculpture, Gagosian Gallery, New York 2012, p. 12).


While painting, Baselitz holds a photograph of the original work in his left hand and uses it as a guide during the creative process. In these “Remix” paintings, he contrasts the powerful brushwork and saturated paint application characteristic of the 1960s with the lucid transparency of paint drippings, which he “mixes” on a canvas divided into two halves, using bold, even metallic-glossy colors that he applies generously, along with a playful internal drawing. Baselitz explains: “On top of what once possessed its own inner coherence, I apply a different method, at times even a different style or other, very distinct colors, or sometimes I just blur it with white and add a drawing on top. I try to preserve one thing: the original impulse. A different painter created these earlier works. Certainly, it was me, but in a different frame of mind and with a different intention. It is impossible to recapture that forty-five years later. One can only look at the painting that was created back then. I begin to reflect on this painting, to return to it in my mind. And that is how the new painting comes into being.” (Georg Baselitz on this series of works, quoted from: ibid., p. 9)

A Painting Composed of Two Halves
The painting offered here, part of the “Remix” series, was created as part of a small series of works in 2011 at the artist’s then-new studio on Lake Ammersee. Despite critical self-reflection and an innovative, at times experimental approach, Baselitz initially remained somewhat true to himself: a single, central figure dominates the canvas. In a first step, he paints the figure’s head, the beginning of each new painting.
The monumental works are created on the floor so that the fairly fluid paint does not leave streaks on the canvas. Baselitz crawls around the works or stands in the middle of the canvas; he paints the forms that come to mind—without the option to step back and assess the overall result from time to time.
The size of the works plays a major role. Standing before these paintings, viewers are compelled to engage with the lower part of the composition first because of its overwhelming monumentality. At the same time, the lower part of the painting features an unusually free, highly dynamic, and nearly abstract style; the expressive power of the upper half unfolds in the larger-than-life head gazing into the distance, the bold, vibrant colors, and the stark contrast with the dark background.
“Many of the colors are incredibly bright against the white ground. They strike your eyes with a bang,” comments art historian and curator Robert Fleck on this series of works.


Artistic Contrasts and Relentless Self-Challenge
Contradictions and contrasts lie at the heart of Georg Baselitz’s art, as in this painting: monochromatic tones and vibrant colors, flat paint application and expressive lines, monumentality and intricate detail, reflection and innovation.
For about a decade, this critical reflection and self-analysis have occupied much of Baselitz’s painterly practice. “I try to breathe new life into everything I have created in the past. This is a nostalgic, highly sentimental endeavor. I approach it quite deliberately, drawing on all my intellectual faculties” (quoted from: ibid., p. 15)
The artist’s works reflect this “relentless self-challenge” and make “his simultaneous movement of ‘always forward’ and ‘always back’ almost physically tangible” (Cornelius Tittel, Georg Baselitz. Der malende Partisan, in: Welt online, Nov. 2, 2021)

In recent years, the artist’s outstanding body of work has been honored with comprehensive, retrospective solo exhibitions at the world’s most renowned museums and institutions, including the Haus der Kunst in Munich, the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel, the Munchmuseet in Oslo, White Cube in London, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Currently, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, among others, shows a comprehensive retrospective exploring the complex evolution of his work (through November 8). Next year, the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden will host a comprehensive solo exhibition in honor of the recently deceased artist. [CH]