Georg Baselitz, an acclaimed German artist prominent in the neo-Expressionist movement who had a penchant for provocation and was known for painting images upside down, has died. He was 88.
The Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, which represented Baselitz, said the artist died on Thursday, citing his family. It said he died 鈥減eacefully,鈥� but did not give a cause of death.
Born Hans-Georg Kern, Baselitz took his artistic name from the village of Deutschbaselitz in the eastern Saxony region, where he was born on Jan. 23, 1938, in Nazi-ruled Germany before the outbreak of . After growing up in the ruins of the war, he left the then-East Germany in 1957 at a time of rising political pressure, and emigrated to the West.
鈥淚 was born into a destroyed order, into a destroyed landscape, into a destroyed people, into a destroyed society,鈥� he told German news agency dpa before his 85th birthday.
The gallery called him 鈥渁 titan of contemporary painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking” and 鈥渙ne of the most important artists of our time,” who influenced fellow artists and the international art world.
His first exhibition in 1963 reportedly caused a stir, with a vice squad identifying pornography in at least two of his paintings, and confiscating them.
He was often described as an 鈥渁rtist of rage,鈥� and had a motto of “contradiction,” according to dpa.
His works hang in some of the world’s top galleries and have fetched millions at auction. In 2017, German police announced they had recovered worth around 2.5 million euros ($2.9 million).
Baselitz recalled that some of his earliest recognition came in the 1960s through his series of golden-colored 鈥淗ero鈥� paintings, based on fictional characters from Russian civil war novels. The works depicted broken figures staggering toward the viewer in ragged uniforms 鈥� in distorted sizes, giant hands and small heads. His battle-weary hero, 鈥淒er Hirte (The Shepherd)鈥� from 1966 won international acclaim.
In 1969, Baselitz created 鈥淒er Wald auf dem Kopf,鈥� (The Forest on its Head), his first 鈥渋nverted鈥� painting 鈥� featuring trees upside down, a theme that would become one of his trademarks.
鈥淕eorg Baselitz did not just turn his paintings upside down; he also turned our thinking routines upside down,鈥� German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. 鈥淗aving experienced the destruction and suffering of the Second World War as a child, the collapse of all order forced him to question everything around him.鈥�
Baselitz mused about his long career in a recent video, commenting that 鈥渢ypical painting has never appealed to me.鈥�
鈥淚 actually wanted to be more of a black-and-white painter, and above all, I didn鈥檛 want to work spatially, perspectively, with shadows and light and such things that arise with the imitation of nature,” he said while seated in a wheelchair in a paint-smudged jacket.
鈥淚 must say that throughout my life, I was not aware that I was a painter of color, even though I am constantly told that I have such wonderful colors,鈥� Baselitz said.
Baselitz said he sought to 鈥渃onstruct my connection to the world, to myself and to my wife,鈥� using the most 鈥渟imple and ordinary” means possible. He spoke in a video from the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice, which is hosting an exhibition of Baselitz’s 鈥淕olden Heroes鈥� works from May 6 to Sept. 27.
A 鈥淣aked Masters鈥� exhibit at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in 2023 spanned his half-century career and dealt with controversial themes of nudity 鈥� notably of the painter and his wife, Elke 鈥� displayed alongside oil paintings by old masters also evoking nudity.
He is survived by his wife and sons, Daniel Blau and Anton Kern, the gallery said.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
