Georg Baselitz: The Last Decade at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), with the support of Akbank, presents works by German painter, printmaker, and sculptor Georg Baselitz, a leading figure in contemporary art. The exhibition features close to one hundred large-scale paintings and sculptures created by Baselitz in the past decade, displayed throughout all gallery spaces and the garden of the SSM. Concurrently, a comprehensive selection of the artist’s engravings is being showcased at Akbank Sanat.
Georg Baselitz has had a profound influence on the international art world since the 1980s, forging a new identity for German art in the aftermath of the Second World War. His unique style, characterised by his practice of painting compositions upside down since 1969, seeks to decontextualize form and stand between abstraction and figuration, thereby revolutionising a once traditional medium.
Georg Baselitz: The Last Decade presents recurring motifs that have shaped the artist’s work over decades. Baselitz revisits the eagles of his childhood in Deutschbaselitz, a motif he has explored in various media since the 1950s, in a series set against blue backgrounds, culminating in a recent 2024 addition, displayed here for the first time. The deer, another enduring motif from his childhood, reappears as a central element of the mythological iconography that has long shaped his work. The recent Golden Hands series reflects his fascination with the cultural and historical symbolism of these limbs. Additionally, upside-down portraits of his wife Elke, a theme prevalent since the 1970s, are prominently featured. The exhibition highlights Springtime (2020), a series inspired by Dada artist Hannah Höch, where Baselitz collages nylon stockings onto inverted figures, lending a near-fetishistic significance to the stockings. Monumental sculptures in the galleries and garden complement the paintings, resonating with their iconography and historical themes.
