GEORG BASELITZ

Georg Baselitz (1938–2026) was one of the most uncompromising voices in postwar art. Born in Saxony as Hans-Georg Kern, he transformed painting by quite literally turning it upside down. His inverted figures, introduced in 1969, challenged conventional ways of seeing and became an enduring symbol of artistic freedom and resistance to certainty. Shaped by the trauma and ruins of postwar Germany, Baselitz created works of striking physicality, raw emotion, and restless intensity. Across painting, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking, he remained fiercely independent, continually questioning tradition while redefining the possibilities of figuration.

Hatje Cantz had the privilege of accompanying his work through numerous publications over the decades. Georg Baselitz leaves behind an oeuvre of extraordinary influence—provocative, vulnerable, and unmistakably his own. His art will continue to unsettle, inspire, and endure for generations to come.