Georg Baselitz: Only in Art the World is Whole

"The most intact world is the world of art. Nothing is better or more interesting to me than paintings." Renowned German artist Georg Baselitz looks back on his life, his roots and inspirations. "Obsessiveness is a distinctiveness. You always face considerable resistance. You consciously have to take the path of an outsider. They try to humiliate you, tear you down. And that's why it's worthwhile continuing." According to his own words, the great contemporary artist Georg Baselitz seems to be a man who is all about resistance, wanting to stand out, prove himself and be in control. In the beginning, Baselitz got into art because he wanted to "get the girls", as he explains it, and was too lazy to succeed with music or poetry, he says. As an artist, Baselitz went his own way and again found it most important to stand out and to do what had never been done before. Today, his work is changing again. There is no going forward, he says: "You stand at the stern of a boat and look back. Looking back at what's gone, the 'passato' is a more interesting viewpoint for me." Georg Baselitz (1938-2026) was born Hans-Georg Kern, in what was later to become East Germany. In the 1970s, Baselitz was part of a group of Neo-Expressionist artists ("Neue Wilden") focusing on deformation. Baselitz became famous for his upside-down images and was seen as a revolutionary painter. From a European perspective, Baselitz' style is seen as postmodern. Baselitz has been a professor at the Hochschule der Künste art academy in Berlin. Georg Baselitz was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner Camera by Jesper Bundgaard Editing by Per Henriksen Produced by Marc-Christoph Wagner Copyright: Louisiana Channel, produced by Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2014. Supported by Nordea-fonden