The painter, sculptor and graphic artist Georg Baselitz has died. He passed away on 30 April 2026 at the age of 88. With his passing, the art world has lost one of the defining figures of post-war European art.
Born on 23 January 1938 as Hans-Georg Bruno Kern in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony, Baselitz grew up during a period marked by war and upheaval. His father was a village schoolteacher, and the family lived in the school building. His early experiences of ideological constraints and social upheaval following 1945 remained central to his work. Many of his figures appear vulnerable, fragmented or thrown off balance; they revolve around damaged figures, around authority and its loss.
In 1956, Baselitz began studying at the Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in East Berlin. As early as 1957, he was expelled for ‘socio-political immaturity’. He moved to West Berlin and continued his studies at the University of the Arts, where he studied under Hann Trier, among others. During this period, he developed his first programmatic positions together with Eugen Schönebeck. The so-called ‘Pandemonian Manifestos’ of 1961 and 1962 articulated an expressive conception of art directed against academic and social norms.
Baselitz first attracted attention with his provocative works. In 1963, during his first solo exhibition at the Werner & Katz gallery in West Berlin, the paintings Die große Nacht im Eimer and Der nackte Mann were seized by the public prosecutor’s office. The charge was “causing public outrage”. The scandal made him famous overnight. Baselitz did not respond by retreating, but by further intensifying his visual language. Figures became increasingly deformed, bodies distorted, proportions deliberately broken.
In 1969, Baselitz began systematically turning his motifs upside down. This inversion became his most famous artistic technique. It deprived the paintings of their immediate legibility and directed the viewer’s gaze towards painting as an autonomous process. The viewer was forced to reorient themselves. Baselitz himself saw this as an opportunity to break free from expectations regarding content and to reveal painting in its own right. The figures and landscapes painted ‘upside down’ marked his international breakthrough.
In the 1970s, Baselitz expanded his practice to include printmaking and sculpture. His wooden figures, carved with a chainsaw, appear raw and direct and are closely linked to his painting. In 1972, he took part in documenta 5 in Kassel and established himself on the international scene.
Baselitz established himself internationally, if not before, then certainly with his participation in documenta 5. This was followed by solo exhibitions in Europe and the USA. In 1980, he represented Germany alongside Anselm Kiefer at the Venice Biennale. His sculpture Modell für eine Skulptur (Model for a Sculpture), exhibited there, sparked a wide-ranging debate and underlined his position as a key artist of the time. This presentation marked the international recognition of a new, self-assured German painting tradition emerging after 1945.
In addition to his own work, Baselitz was active as a teacher. In 1977, he became a professor at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe; later, he taught at the Berlin University of the Arts. Many younger artists were influenced by him, even though he never formed a school in the strict sense of the word.
Since the 1990s, Baselitz has increasingly engaged with his own biography. Series such as the so-called ‘Remix’ paintings revisit earlier motifs and reinterpret them. In recent years, he has produced large-format, often sketch-like paintings in which Baselitz depicts himself and his wife Elke. These works appear more open, at times more fragile, without losing any of their directness.
Baselitz was also a controversial figure in public life. His comments on the art world, politics and gender issues were widely criticised. At the same time, he remained committed to a notion of artistic independence that was not driven by the pursuit of approval.
His oeuvre comprises several thousand paintings, sculptures and works on paper. It is represented in major museums and collections worldwide and has had a decisive influence on painting in the second half of the 20th century.
Georg Baselitz leaves behind a body of work that defies simple categorisation. His paintings demand attention and time. They remain present.
