2024-02-02 11:08:00
The most expensive and most successful contemporary German artist, Gerhard Richter, was born in Dresden in 1932. There, in his hometown, he began studying to become a painter. Then, in 1961, he moved from the GDR to West Germany, where he continued his studies at the Dusseldorf Academy of Arts. However, his first diploma work remained in East Germany – a fresco on the wall German Hygiene Museum in Dresden. At the time of creation of this work, the famous master was 24 years old.
In 1979, the Dresden fresco “Joy of Life” was covered up, but its existence was not forgotten. After the unification of Germany, museum workers wanted to remove the layer of plaster so that the public could see the master’s work again, but Richter himself was against it, allowing the fresco to be shown only in fragments. Then, during the renovation of the building, it was covered over again.
Detail from the fresco “Joy of Life” by Gerhard Richter, Dresden, 1956. Photo: Matthias Rietschel/epd/picture alliance
However, now, as part of the museum’s preparation for a new exhibition – “VEB-Museum – German Hygiene Museum in the GDR” – it has been decided to finally and completely clean “The Joy of Life” from all the layers of plaster that covered it at different times. The appropriate permission from Gerhard Richter has been obtained. Restoration work is in full swing – and the results are already visible. The preliminary cost of the “cleaning” is 220 thousand euros.
Why did they decide to clean up Richter’s fresco only now?
Until now, researchers and guardians of Richter’s creative heritage could only judge his Dresden thesis from old black-and-white photographs. Now they will have a chance to see the mural as it once was.
Cleaning and restoration work on the Gerhard Richter fresco is in full swing. Photo: Robert Michael/dpa/picture alliance
Why didn’t the mother allow the fresco to be fully opened in the 1990s? According to him, he feared that this work would negatively affect his image and would be very discordant with his later works. Now that Gerhard Richter is the most popular living German artist, he can afford to “not be ashamed” of the past, researchers of his work believe.
Museum of Hygiene in the History of the GDR
The exhibition “VEB-Museum – German Hygiene Museum in the GDR” will open on March 9 this year. And by that time, the fresco should appear before the public in all its glory – as much as possible (not all fragments have been preserved).
VEB (Volkseigener Betrieb – “people’s enterprise”) is a legal form of organization of enterprises and institutions that existed first in the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany, and then in the GDR. The exhibition will be dedicated partly to the history of the GDR, partly to what the Hygiene Museum was like during the existence of two Germanys – East and West. You can view the exhibition until November 17, 2024.
See also:
Museums of Dresden
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#Gerhard #Richter #longer #ashamed #02.02.2024