Under the title “GEORG BASELITZ – BERLINER JAHRE | Bilder aus der Sammlung Baselitz” (GEORG BASELITZ – BERLIN YEARS | Paintings from the Baselitz Collection), Villa Schöningen will be showing paintings by Georg Baselitz from the artist’s collection from February 4 to August 1, 2012.
Twenty-one exhibits convey an impression of the artist’s early years in Berlin: this is where Georg Baselitz studied from 1956 to 1962, first at the Hochschule für Bildende und Angewandte Kunst in East Berlin, which he had to leave after two semesters due to “sociopolitical immaturity,” then at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste in West Berlin.

In 1963, a scandal broke out in West Berlin during the young artist’s first solo exhibition at the “Werner & Katz” gallery on Kurfürstendamm, as a result of which the two works “Die große Nacht im Eimer” and “Der nackte Mann” were confiscated by the public prosecutor. Baselitz was then charged with “having exhibited continued and jointly committed acts of lewd depictions in places that were accessible to the public.” The painting “Die große Nacht im Eimer” from the exhibition at that time is now part of the collection of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Another version of the work is shown in the Villa Schöningen exhibition.

In 1966 Baselitz left the city. However, he returned to Berlin again and again, had numerous important exhibitions here and became a professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin in 1984.

The majority of the works in the exhibition were created between 1959 and 1966 and give an impression of Georg Baselitz’s creative phase in Berlin, which led to paintings through which he gradually became internationally known. In addition, so-called “remix” works are shown, which refer to works from the Berlin years.

The exhibition “GEORG BASELITZ – BERLINER JAHRE | Bilder aus der Sammlung Baselitz” provides an exciting insight into the collection of Georg Baselitz’s own works. The collection, which he put together himself, has never been shown publicly before.