Entertainment · Books & Arts · 1 hr ago
London exhibition presents Georg Baselitz’s paintings confronting German history
A London exhibition presents Georg Baselitz’s history paintings, which he helped plan before his death this year.
Baselitz was born in 1938, experienced Nazi Germany and the second world war as a child, and later grew up in communist East Germany before moving west.
He began the paintings in 1965, when former soldiers from the war were leading West Germany’s banks and car companies.
The works challenge how easily Germany could leave its wartime crimes behind, including the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
Their damaged figures and landscapes express horror, disgust and guilt rather than celebrate German history.
The exhibition brings these paintings to viewers in London, but no further plans are stated.
A London exhibition presents Georg Baselitz’s history paintings, which confront Germany’s past.
Baselitz helped plan the exhibition, titled The Heroes, before his death in 2026.
The paintings were begun in 1965 and depict figures amid ruined, blood-stained landscapes.
The Guardian says the works challenge the ease with which West Germany moved past the crimes of the second world war.
- Who
- German painter Georg Baselitz, who helped plan the exhibition.
- What
- The Heroes presents his history paintings confronting Germany’s past.
- When
- The paintings were begun in 1965; the exhibition is covered in an article published on 13 October 2026.
- Where
- London.
- Why
- The paintings confront German history and the country’s handling of the crimes of the second world war.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Baselitz began painting the works in The Heroes.
Baselitz painted Ein Moderner Maler (A Modern Painter).
Baselitz died, according to the Guardian article.
The Guardian published its review of the London exhibition.
- Exhibition
- The Heroes
- Location
- London
- Artist
- Georg Baselitz
- First year of paintings
- 1965
- Painting
- Ein Moderner Maler (A Modern Painter), 1966
- Article date
- 13 October 2026
Sources
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