Markus Lüpertz oder Die Überwindung der Moderne

Markus Lüpertz oder Die Überwindung der Moderne

Galerie Michael Werner celebrates Markus Lüpertz’s 85th birthday with a jubilee exhibition. The presentation brings together recent paintings, in which Lüpertz deepens his engagement with mythological motifs and figural gesture, consolidating them within a rigorously defined and autonomous pictorial structure. The collaboration between Michael Werner and Markus Lüpertz spans nearly six decades. Artist and gallerist first met in 1964 and in 1968, Lüpertz held his first Berlin exhibition at Michael Werner’s gallery on Kantstraße. Since then, the gallery has upheld a continuous and dedicated commitment to his oeuvre.

The exhibition title Die Überwindung der Moderne (The Overcoming of Modernism) suggests a programmatic core of Lüpertz’s artistic stance: the persistent interrogation of painting itself. He moves beyond the linear conceptions of modernism, critically realigning their inherent dichotomies. For the artist, “Überwindung” does not imply a rejection of modernism, but rather a sustained engagement with its central concepts and aesthetic concerns. Historical painterly traditions are not merely cited but act as operative elements within a self-determined pictorial order, with mythological motifs serving as a constant point of reference. Past and present exist beyond hierarchy, coexisting and converging into novel layers of perception.

Within the context of postwar German art, Markus Lüpertz occupies a singular position. His painting asserts the independence of the image, conceives form as an open and evolving process, and resists fixed stylistic or theoretical classifications. His paintings and drawings can be understood as an ongoing exploration of the possibilities of painterly practice - a reflection on the conditions of modernism that simultaneously transcends them.

Markus Lüpertz (*1941, Liberec) frequently exhibited in Cologne and Berlin before achieving international recognition in 1977 with a major museum exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. In 1980, he participated in the legendary A New Spirit in Painting exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, and in 1981 contributed significantly to the controversially discussed Zeitgeist exhibition in Berlin. From 1987 to 2009, Lüpertz served as headmaster of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Major exhibitions of his work have been held at Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1986); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (1991); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (1996); Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn (2009); Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (2011); Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao (2014); State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (2014); The Phillips Collection, Washington (2018); Hirshhorn Museum, Washington (2018); and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2019).

Lüpertz’s works are represented in major public collections, including Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Museum Folkwang, Essen; the Albertina, Vienna; the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate, London; Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, amongst others.