Georg Baselitz - late works and retrospectives from Salzburg to Seoul
Published on 08/29/2026 at 13:35 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Georg Baselitz set the tone for his late career with large, distilled canvases that revisit motifs from six decades of painting. In 2026, institutions in London, Salzburg and Seoul present these late works alongside earlier series, emphasizing how consistently he circled back to the same pictorial problems.
Late paintings in London
The White Cube exhibition Georg Baselitz. Back Again at Bermondsey in London runs from June 10 to August 30, 2026, focusing on recent paintings and works on paper conceived in the last years of the artist's life. The show takes its title from the painting Back Again, which the gallery describes as a pointed summation of his persistent return to earlier motifs such as eagles, upside-down figures and portraits of his wife Elke. Installed in the large South Galleries, the canvases often isolate a single figure or emblem, set against light grounds where thin washes, drips and exposed canvas let the drawing carry the image.
White Cube positions the exhibition as one of the last Baselitz conceived himself, emphasizing his decision to bring together themes from across his career rather than present a strictly chronological late period. The related publication, issued to coincide with the Bermondsey show, reproduces these recent works and underlines how the artist reworked the 'Hero' type, skeletal trees and fractured limbs in a more translucent, almost fragile palette.
Salzburg and Seoul in 2026
In Salzburg, Museum der Moderne stages a two-part overview under the titles Baselitz Jetzt and Baselitz Manifeste, combining early drawings and prints with monumental late paintings that stretch across the last ten years. The Mönchsberg presentation concentrates on recent large-scale canvases, while the Rupertinum hangs early graphic work that probes German history, identity and the image of the artist. This double structure mirrors Baselitz's own insistence on seeing early and late phases in one continuum.
In Seoul, Sehwa Museum of Art opened a retrospective of 46 major works on August 13, 2026, presented as the first museum-scale Baselitz survey in Korea since his death. According to the museum and gallery statements, the exhibition spans more than 60 years, from 1960s works to the so-called 'Gold Paintings', and includes his final recorded interview, framing the Korean presentation as both a historical survey and posthumous homage.
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The core work groups
Baselitz's long career moves through distinct, often sharply demarcated work groups, many of which remain visible in the 2026 museum displays. The early 'Helden' paintings of the mid-1960s, with their battered, oversized male figures, confront postwar German identity and still anchor many retrospective selections. The inversion of the motif, introduced in 1969 when Baselitz began to paint figures and landscapes upside down, shifted attention from narrative content to painterly structure and quickly became his signature gesture.
In the 1980s he developed the so-called 'Remix' series, revisiting earlier compositions in a brighter, more fragmented palette that broke down solid bodies into linear, almost calligraphic marks. Late self-portraits and depictions of Elke, often skeletal and stripped down, connect to this 'Remix' logic by quoting and reworking decades-old images rather than inventing entirely new iconography, a strategy that the London and Salzburg exhibitions make particularly explicit.
Position between figuration and abstraction
Baselitz has frequently been situated between Neo-Expressionism and a more idiosyncratic, historically loaded figuration. His repeated references to German Romanticism, folk motifs and the history of war painting distinguish his work from the largely American abstract expressionist lineage that dominated international discourse when he first emerged. At the same time, the inversion device and constant reworking of motifs emphasize painting as an autonomous field of decisions, which is why his canvases sit comfortably in dialogues with abstract peers in collection displays at institutions such as the Pinakothek der Moderne.
Against this backdrop, current curatorial projects treat Baselitz less as a provocateur of early scandal and more as a painter of long arcs, someone whose late works quietly gather and compress six decades of visual thinking. For collectors and institutions alike, this perspective shifts attention from individual 'iconic' images toward the structural logic that ties the various series together.
Where the artist stands now
With multiple 2026 exhibitions extending into the autumn, Georg Baselitz's work remains active in institutional programs, while curators continue to draw connections between his early 'Helden', inverted figures and late, pared-down portraits across Europe and Asia.
Key facts on Georg Baselitz
- Artist: Georg Baselitz
- Medium / Genre: Painting and sculpture (figurative, inverted imagery)
- Born: 1938, Deutschbaselitz, Germany
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice associated with Germany and Austria
- Active since: early 1960s, with first major solo exhibitions in West Germany
- Key work groups: Helden, inverted figures, Remix, late self-portraits and Elke portraits
- Current/last exhibition: Georg Baselitz. Back Again, White Cube Bermondsey, London, June 10 - August 30, 2026
- Major collections: Pinakothek der Moderne (Munich), Tate (London), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Nationalgalerie (Berlin)
- Awards: Documented honors include major German and international art prizes over several decades
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Georg Baselitz
Where can I see Georg Baselitz in 2026?
In 2026, Baselitz's work is on view at White Cube Bermondsey in London with Georg Baselitz. Back Again through August 30, at Museum der Moderne Salzburg in the twin shows Baselitz Jetzt and Baselitz Manifeste, and in a retrospective at Sehwa Museum of Art in Seoul.
What do the late paintings in London focus on?
The London exhibition highlights large recent paintings and works on paper, many of them centered on isolated inverted figures, eagles and portraits of Elke on light grounds, conceived as a summation of Baselitz's recurring motifs over more than 60 years.
How do the Salzburg and Seoul shows frame Baselitz's career?
In Salzburg, Museum der Moderne juxtaposes early graphics with late monumental canvases, while Sehwa Museum of Art in Seoul presents 46 works from the 1960s to the 'Gold Paintings', positioning Baselitz through both historical development and posthumous legacy.
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.
