Neue Nationalgalerie shows the exhibition Kraftfelder by the artist Judit Reig from 30 June 2023. On the occasion of the centenary of the artist’s birth and the donation of three major works by Judit Reigl, the Neue Nationalgalerie is presenting the first solo museum exhibition of the Hungarian-French artist in Germany. With the donation, the Nationalgalerie is the first public collection in Germany to own works by the important painter, who was closely associated with French Informel in the 1950s.
Fig. above: Judit Reigl in ihrem Atelier in Marcoussis, 1964 © Fonds de Dotation Judit Reigl
With this overview of Reigl’s oeuvre, the Neue Nationalgalerie is dedicating itself to one of the most important figures in European art of the second half of the 20th century. On view are nearly sixteen, mostly large-format paintings from the simultaneously abstract and figurative painterly oeuvre of Reigl (1923 – 2020). Born in Hungary, she initially studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. In 1950, she fled her home country due to the rise of Stalinism and settled in Paris. While her early, mostly dreamy paintings were still committed to surrealism, she turned to lyrical abstraction in the early 1950s.
Again and again, figurative elements are found in her paintings, culminating in the male torsos of the “Man” series in the mid-1960s. In addition to the paintings “Center of Dominance” (1959), “Mass Writing” (1960) and the large-format triptych “Man” (1967 1969), which were generously donated to the National Gallery by the Fonds de Dotation Judit Reigl, the exhibition shows central works from the 1950s to the 1980s, providing a comprehensive insight into the artist’s multi-layered creative phases.
Curated by Maike Steinkamp, research assistant Neue Nationalgalerie.
WHERE?
Neue Nationalgalerie
at the Kulturforum
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin
WHEN?
Opening: Thursday, 29 June, 7 pm
Exhibition dates: Friday, 30 June – Sunday, 8 October 2023
Tue – Wed 10 am – 6 pm, Thu 10 am – 8 pm, Fri – Sun 10 am – 6 pm
