For the first time, Maria Lassnig (1919–2014) and Edvard Munch (1863–1944) are being shown together in a major double exhibition. At first glance, more than half a century separates the Austrian artist—whose works were purchased early on by the Kunsthalle as the first German museum to do so—and the Norwegian painter—of whom the Hamburger Kunsthalle owns a large collection of paintings and works on paper. And yet there are astonishing parallels between their works and biographies. The thematic juxtaposition allows their work to be read in a new light.
Both artists share a unique approach to colour as a creative medium and a powerful means of expressing inner emotions such as grief, love, loneliness, fear, joy, and pain.
For both Lassnig and Munch, painting was more than just an artistic technique. It was a form of self-questioning and questioning of the world. Their works show inner and outer states that have an immediate emotional effect. The subtitle of the exhibition, »Malfluss = Lebensfluss« (Painting Flow = Life Flow), comes from a painting by Maria Lassnig. It illustrates the inseparable connection between art and life.
