Georg Baselitz and the late work now in Salzburg
Published on 08/27/2026 at 15:30 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Georg Baselitz shaped postwar German painting with upside-down figures, raw bodies and an insistence on painterly doubt. In Salzburg, the Museum der Moderne has dedicated the extensive project Baselitz Jetzt and the exhibition Baselitz Manifeste to his drawings, prints and late paintings.
The Salzburg double exhibition
The Museum der Moderne Salzburg stretches Baselitz across two venues under the umbrella Baselitz Jetzt, pairing early works on paper with large late paintings from roughly the last decade. The institution describes the project as spanning his practice from early drawings to monumental late oeuvre. Museum der Moderne Salzburg exhibition page
At the Rupertinum in Salzburg’s old town, Baselitz Manifeste concentrates on graphic work and early paper pieces that explore German history, identity and the artist’s ego, presented as a kind of manifesto of recurring motifs. Museum der Moderne Salzburg detailed description
Late paintings and themes of aging
The complementary part of Baselitz Jetzt on the Mönchsberg focuses on late and large-format canvases produced over roughly the last ten years, including monumental portraits that reflect on aging, mortality and the shared life with his wife Elke. The museum underlines how these works translate physical fragility into painterly tension. Museum der Moderne Salzburg exhibition page
Against the Salzburg landscape, these late works underscore Baselitz’s self-positioning as an outsider who nonetheless engages directly with German visual tradition, from Romanticism to Expressionism, while refusing nostalgia and neat closure in his imagery.
All news and background on Georg Baselitz
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The work core in painting and print
Baselitz is best known for his inverted figures, a strategy he introduced around 1969 to detach painting from narrative and force viewers to read images as constructed surfaces rather than scenes. Over decades he returned to recurring motifs such as solitary figures, heroes, eagles and torsos.
Printmaking and drawing run in parallel to the paintings: woodcuts, etchings and ink drawings often serve as testing grounds for new compositional structures, which he later amplifies on large canvases. The Salzburg shows underline how closely his graphic work and painting have always been interwoven.
Where the artist stands now
Against this backdrop, Georg Baselitz’s position is defined by a late oeuvre that continues to be read in dialogue with German history, while institutions such as the Museum der Moderne Salzburg keep revisiting both his early manifestos and his last decades of painting.
Georg Baselitz at a glance
- Artist: Georg Baselitz
- Medium / Genre: Painting and sculpture (Neo-Expressionist figurative)
- Born: 1938, Deutschbaselitz, Germany
- Place(s) of practice: Long associated with studios in Germany and Austria
- Active since: Early 1960s, with first significant attention in mid-1960s
- Key work groups: Helden, Fracture paintings, Inverted figures, Eroi d’Oro
- Current/last exhibition: Baselitz Jetzt, Museum der Moderne Salzburg (Rupertinum and Mönchsberg)
- Major collections: MoMA (New York), Tate (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Städel Museum (Frankfurt), Museum Ludwig (Cologne)
- Awards: Praemium Imperiale for painting (2004), Goslar Kaiserring (1988), Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (1998)
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Georg Baselitz
Where can Georg Baselitz’s work be seen in depth?
The most concentrated current institutional presentation is the dual project Baselitz Jetzt at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, which combines early drawings and graphic works with monumental late paintings across its Rupertinum and Mönchsberg venues.
What defines the late paintings of Georg Baselitz?
His late canvases often feature monumental, sometimes inverted figures with a loosened, fragile line, reflecting on aging, mortality and long-term relationships, while remaining rooted in the gestural language of postwar European painting.
How important is printmaking in Georg Baselitz’s practice?
Baselitz has worked intensively with woodcut, etching and lithography; many of his central motifs, from solitary heroes to fractured bodies, were first tested in prints and drawings before shifting into large-scale paintings.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
