Museums: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden #2

The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum features a diverse collection of contemporary art.

During a recent visit to the Hirshhorn, we toured a temporary exhibition of the art and sculpture of living German artist Georg Baselitz.  The exhibition was a retrospective of Baselitz's sixty year career.  The artwork, presented chronologically, filled an entire floor of the Hirshhorn.  

Before viewing the exhibition, we had not heard of Georg Baselitz.  Overall, the style of the paintings and sculpture was primitive with broad brushstrokes and vivid colors.  The images in the paintings, especially the early ones, were crude and even disturbing.  Still, we enjoyed touring the exhibition. 

You might be wondering if the photograph above and ones that follow are accidentally upside down.  Well, the paintings were hung upside down in the gallery.  Apparently, the artist paints right-side up and then intentionally turns the painting over.  The purpose, according to different sources, is to focus the viewer's attention more on the way the work was painted and less on the figure represented.  Who knew?

Detail of The Brücke Chorus

For comparison, below is an image of Munch's Scream.

The Scream, Edvard Munch (1895) (one of four originals) (in The Neue Gallerie) 

The painting above is correctly compared to medieval Christian paintings with golden halos surrounding the subjects to indicate divinity.  We also thought Baselitz might also be emulating Klimt's masterpiece pictured below.

Adele Bloch-Bauer I, aka The Woman in Gold, Gustav Klimt (1907)

Left:  Frau Utramarin by Georg Baselitz (2004) (cedar and oil).
Right:  Frau SRH by Some Random Hottie (2018) (dress and shoes from Steinmart).

Thanks for visiting the Hirshhorn Museum with us.