Georg Baselitz Deutschbaselitz, Alemania, b. 1938

Born as Hans‑Georg Kern in Deutschbaselitz, Germany, in 1938, Georg Baselitz lives and works between Lake Ammersee, near Salzburg, and Imperia, in the Italian region of Liguria.

In 1956, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts and Applied Arts in East Berlin, from which he was expelled after two semesters due to his “social and political immaturity.” He subsequently moved to West Berlin to complete his artistic training.

His painting has been described as pioneering German Neo‑Expressionism. In 1969, he began painting his figures upside down, in an effort to overcome the representational character of his earlier work. This approach has become the most distinctive feature of his artistic corpus and has earned him significant attention and critical engagement from the art community.

Through painting, drawing, printmaking, and monumental wood sculpture, Baselitz frequently addresses themes related to German national identity in the aftermath of the Second World War, particularly the role of German artists.

His extensive career has been celebrated and recognized since 1963, the year of his first solo exhibition at the Werner & Katz Gallery in Berlin. Notable solo exhibitions include Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden (1969), one of his earliest major institutional presentations; a significant retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum (1995), which established his international reputation; the Royal Academy of Arts (2007); Fondation Beyeler (2018); a monumental retrospective at the Centre Pompidou (2021), spanning six decades of work; and the Galleria degli Uffizi (2022), marking the first exhibition by a living artist in the Hall of the Old Masters.

His work is held in major collections including MoMA, Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, the Stedelijk Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Pinakothek der Moderne, and the Museum Ludwig.