Baroque modern

Presenting an exhibition comprising around 120 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and glass objects, the Kunstpalast will be exploring the rarely-illuminated traces of the Baroque period in art after 1950. In a number of artist rooms, characteristic works of different post-war stylistic movements, such as Art Informel, abstraction or ZERO will be juxtaposed with works from the Baroque period.

At first sight, such a confrontation of works by artists including Karl Otto Götz, Dorothy Iannone, Niki de Saint Phalle, Dieter Roth, Bernard Schultze and Hann Trier with Baroque art by Agostino Carracci, Giovanni Battista Gaulli or Hendrick Goltzius may come as a surprise. Their juxtaposition drives home that many artists after 1950 reflected artistic principles of the Baroque style in their own creative work. In terms of subject matter, the dialogic compilations explore themes such as festival culture, passion, spirituality, as well as constructing new experiential spaces.

With this exhibition, the Kunstpalast pays tribute to the 10th anniversary of Stiftung Sammlung Kemp. Willi Kemp (1927–2020) died on 5 December. The show is presented as an homage to the Düsseldorf art collector and tax consultant, who in 2011 donated to the Kunstpalast his collection comprising nearly 3,000 works, with a focus on Art Informel, ZERO and colour field painting. Selected pieces from the Kemp Collection are united with works from the Baroque period from the museum’s holdings.

Curators: Daniel Cremer and Gunda Luyken

Exhibition View