"I was born into a destroyed order, into a destroyed landscape, into a destroyed people, into a destroyed society.
And I did not want to introduce a new order. I had seen more than enough so-called orders. I was forced to question everything, had to start again >naively<." - Georg Baselitz
January 23, 1938
Born Hans-Georg Kern on January 23 in Deutschbaselitz (Saxony), the second child of a teacher couple.
1956
Studies at the Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in East Berlin. Baselitz` individual personality, which does not correspond at all to the socialist ideas of the GDR, is already apparent here.
1957
After two semesters, the 18-year-old Baselitz is expelled from the university for "socio-political immaturity". Continues his studies at the West Berlin Hochschule für bildende Künste with Hann Trier.
1958
Moves to West Berlin (note: the Wall had not yet been built).
1960
With the so-called "Rayski Portraits" the first valid works are created.
1961
Adopts the artist name "Georg Baselitz", based on his birthplace.
"1st Pandemonium Manifesto" and exhibition with his friend Eugen Schönbeck.
1962
Publication of the 2nd Pandemonium Manifesto.
Marriage to Elke Kretzschmar. Birth of son Daniel.
Although Baselitz receives a stipend of 80 DM per month and works, and his wife receives a half-orphan's pension and also works, the young family is close to subsistence level.
Beginning of friendship with gallery owner Michael Werner.
1963
First solo exhibition at "Werner & Katz" in West Berlin, which becomes a scandal. Confiscation of the paintings "Die große Nacht im Eimer" and "Der nackte Mann" by the Berlin public prosecutor's office on charges of obscenity.
1964
First etchings are made in the print shop at Wolfsburg Castle in Lower Saxony.
He discovers his passion for printmaking and becomes particularly enthusiastic about the Mannerists (Mannerism = epoch of European art between 1520 and 1600).
1965
Scholarship holder at the Villa Romana in Florence.
Exhibition at the Friedrich & Dahlem Gallery in Munich.
Baselitz paints the "Heroes" series.
1966 - 1968
Baselitz` "Heroes" are shown at the Springer Gallery in Berlin, at this time the most important venue of the Berlin art scene.
Birth of son Anton and move to Osthofen near Worms.
Baselitz creates the so-called "Frakturbilder" (fracture pictures), in which he cuts up and reassembles the representation, as it were (transitional phase before the complete reversal of motifs).
1969 - 1971
Baselitz paints "Der Wald auf dem Kopf" ("The Forest upside down"), his first painting in consistent motif inversion. First exhibition of exclusively "upside-down" paintings at the Franz Dahlem Gallery in Cologne.
More than 120 drawings by Baselitz are shown at the Kunstmuseum Basel.
1971 Moves to Forst an der Weinstraße (Palatinate).
1972
Participation in the "documenta 5" in Kassel with two works.
Studio in Musbach, Baden-Württemberg.
The Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich shows drawings and prints.
1975
Georg Baselitz buys Derneburg Castle near Hildesheim.
First trip to New York and participation in the XIII São Paulo Biennial.
1976
Retrospectives at the Kunsthalle Bern, the Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst in Munich and the Kunsthalle Köln.
Until 1981 additional studio in Florence.
1977
Appointed professor at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe (until 1983).
First large-format linocuts.
1980
Baselitz shows his first sculpture work "Model for a Sculpture" in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
1981 - 1982
Participates in exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Cologne exhibition halls and first exhibition in New York with Xavier Fourcade. Participation in the "documenta 7" in Kassel.
1983
Retrospective at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, subsequently shown at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Kunsthalle Basel.
Baselitz teaches at the Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin (until 1988 and 1992 to 2003).
1984
Retrospective of drawings at the Kunstmuseum Basel with further exhibition stops.
Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin (until 1992).
1985
Graphic retrospective at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris.
Baselitz writes the manifesto "Das Rüstzeug der Maler".
1990
The most extensive retrospective of paintings to date is shown at the Kunsthaus Zürich, then at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
Michael Werner publishes the artist's book "Malelade" with poems and 41 etchings by Baselitz.
1992
Presentation of the '89 Bordeaux "Chateau Mouton Rothschild" with the label designed by Baselitz.
1994
Drafts the manifesto "Painting from the head, on the head or from the pot".
1995
Major retrospectives at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, and the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
1996 - 2006
Exhibitions worldwide, Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, numerous other honors and awards.
2004 he receives the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo, the "Nobel Prize of the Arts".
In 2006, he moves his residence and studio to the Ammersee in Bavaria.
2007 - 2017
Further numerous international exhibitions and honors.
2007/2008 Exhibition of "Russian Pictures" at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg.
2009 Retrospective at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg.
2011 Exhibition of sculptures at the Museé D'Art Moderne in Paris.
2014/2015 "Georg Baselitz - Then, in between and today" at the Haus der Kunst, Munich.
2016 Exhibition of the almost completely united "Heroic Images" at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt (further stations of the exhibition were Stockholm, Rome and Bilbao).
2018
On the occasion of Georg Baselitz's 80th birthday, a series of exhibitions will take place: Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, Kunstmuseum Basel, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden.
2021
Major Baselitz retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Georg Baselitz is admitted to the French Academy of Fine Arts.
2023
Baselitz celebrates his 85th birthday.
Photo of the graphic 45-III, 1991
© Georg Baselitz and Knust & Kunz Gallery Editions, 2023