Georg Baselitz

Georg Baselitz (1938–2026) was a German painter, sculptor, and printmaker who was among the most significant European artists of the postwar period. Born Hans-Georg Kern in Deutschbaselitz, Germany, he studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in East Berlin before moving to West Berlin in 1957, where he continued his studies and began exhibiting. His first solo exhibition (1963) was closed by police, who confiscated two paintings on grounds of obscenity — an episode that established the transgressive character of his early figurative work.

In 1969 Baselitz introduced the practice of inverting his figures, painting and presenting them upside down — a decision he maintained consistently for more than five decades. It was the most recognizable feature of his mature work: it separated figure from narrative, foregrounded the surface of the painting, and refused the conventions of pictorial illusion without abandoning representation. His practice also encompassed woodcut prints — among the most commanding in postwar German art, informed by Expressionist precedent — and large-scale sculptures, many carved in wood by the artist himself. He represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1980 alongside Anselm Kiefer, participated in documenta 5 (1972) and 7 (1982), and received the Praemium Imperiale for Painting in 2013. Retrospectives were held at the Centre Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, among other institutions across Europe. He lived and worked between Ammersee, Bavaria, and Imperia, Italy.

His work is held by the Museum of Modern Art, Tate, the Centre Pompidou, and major collections internationally.