The Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice showcases Georg Baselitz with his gold backgrounds

From May 5 to Sept. 27, 2026, the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice is hosting Heroes of Gold, an exhibition dedicated to new works by Georg Baselitz. The exhibition, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, director of the Giorgio Cini Foundation’s Institute of Art History, was created in partnership with Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery and is being held in conjunction with the 61st Venice Biennale. The project presents the German artist’s most recent series of large-format paintings, characterized by the use of luminous gold backgrounds against which figures made with an essential stroke stand out. At the center of the research appears the interaction between gilded surfaces and bodies represented with thin, precise lines. More material pictorial interventions also appear in some canvases, with explosions of color applied in impasto.

“Gold absorbs space, absorbs shadows, absorbs spatiality [...]. And on top of all this, just a drawing, as if on a sheet of paper, a nude drawing [...] the finest I have been able to make,” Baselitz explains about the role of the gold background in the new works.

The golden planes that form the background of the paintings do not produce illusionistic depth effects. The reflective surface generates a perception of absolute flatness that recalls the backgrounds of medieval icons and some works by the Nordic Renaissance painter Stefan Lochner. On these surfaces, the bodies painted by Baselitz appear suspended, almost floating, outlined through a sharp mark that refers to the practice of line drawing. The series includes larger-than-life self-portraits and several depictions of the artist’s wife, Elke, a recurring presence in his production. The figures are made with diluted black paint, similar to ink, which gives the portraits an almost ghostly character. The artist linked this formal choice to suggestions from Hokusai’s portraits and the tradition of Japanese calligraphy.

Some of the canvases also feature thick, dense brushstrokes concentrated on the figures, achieved through the juxtaposition of multiple colors to create marbled and variegated effects. Baselitz has called these interventions “Little quotations, which I like to call ’de Kooning’ and ’de Kooning-in-the-wrong-place’: an arbitrary and improvised action with a brush and palette knife in de Kooning’s colors somewhere within or beside the figure.” In this way, textural painting enters into dialogue with the linear sign of the figures, causing bodies to emerge from the surface of the canvas. The chromatic brushstrokes also recall a well-known statement by Willem de Kooning that “flesh is the reason why oil painting was invented.” The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalog that includes a text by Luca Massimo Barbero.

The Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice showcases Georg Baselitz with his gold backgrounds

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.