Georg Baselitz: Between Image and Inversion

Georg Baselitz

b. 1938 | German | Oils; Sculpture; Mixed Media

Baselitz is the creator of big, lively, colorful, and crudely painted upside-down paintings (neither in technique nor subject). Inverting his figures was a radical gesture intended to detach the subject from its narrative meaning. His work is often described as raw, aggressive, and emotionally charged.

Trained in East Germany, Baselitz moved to the West, where he developed his signature style. His works have no particular moral message, although this does not deter the art establishment from cheerfully paying enormous prices for them. His sculpture, often carved from wood, is rough and expressive.

Georg Baselitz, Schlafzimmer (Bedroom), 1975. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 98 1/2 x 78 3/4 inches. Georg Baselitz Treuhandstiftung.

Georg Baselitz, Stachelalm, 2000. Oil on canvas, 162 x 130 cm. © Georg Baselitz 2019. Photo: Jochen Littkemann, Berlin.

Georg Baselitz, The Painter in His Bed, 2022. Oil, dispersion adhesive, and plastic on canvas, 118 1/8 x 196 7/8 inches. © Georg Baselitz 2023. Courtesy the artist and Gagosian. Photo: Jochen Littkemann, Berlin.

Key Works:Rebel, 1965 (London: Tate);The Big Night Down the Drain, 1963;Picture (Eleven), 1992 (Hamburg: Kunsthalle)