Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig

On the third floor, covering an area of around 1,000 square metres, the MdbK is presenting modern and contemporary art. Unlike its two predecessors, Picture Universe #3 is conceived across media: graphic prints and photography from the collection – which, until now, have rarely been presented – will be integrated into a three-month rotation. Works not shown for a long time, for example, by Karl-Heinz Adler and Irmgard Horlbeck-Kappler, as well as recent painting acquisitions and donations from the 20th and 21st centuries are also on display for the first time.

The chronological tour begins with prominent works by Leipzig-born Max Beckmann. Beckmann was committed to figuration and narration and exhibited an affinity for the symbolic and mythological. His own leitmotif of capturing the metaphysical reality behind its appearance corresponds in a special way with the MdbK collection, whose focus in the 20th and 21st centuries is on figurative and narrative visual arts with a tendency towards the allegorical. Following the room dedicated to Max Beckmann is a presentation of modern art, represented in the MdbK by prominent single works. These include paintings by Giorgio De Chirico, Karl Hofer, Otto Mueller, Max Pechstein and Max Schwimmer, as well as sculptures by Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Ernesto de Fiori.

Seven of the ten rooms in Picture Universe #3 are dedicated to the art in the GDR. The exhibition shows this art’s diversity, but also its struggle with the political circumstances and its positioning in the midst of the Cold War. Art in the GDR is permeated by ambivalences and contradictions, which are explored in individual rooms that are based on specific themes. With individual approaches from the 21st century, these presentations contain jumps into the immediate present.

Contemporary art is on display in the central middle hall on the third floor. The local art scene, represented by former professors and students of the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB), including Neo Rauch, Henriette Grahnert, Franziska Holstein, David Schnell and Matthias Weischer, is set in dialogue and expanded to include approaches that extend beyond Leipzig, emphasizing art’s national and international interconnection. On display are works by André Butzer, Adrian Ghenie, Katharina Grosse, Karolina Jabłońska and Cornelia Schleime.

An online booklet has been published to accompany the exhibition. You can access it here in English or German.