Georg Baselitz, the German painter who turned postwar art upside down, dies at 88
Georg Baselitz, a pioneering German painter and sculptor known for his inverted artworks and raw depictions of postwar trauma, has died at the age of 88. Shaped by his experiences growing up in Nazi Germany and under Soviet communism, he became a central figure in postwar European art through his rebellious, provocative style. His career was marked by both acclaim and controversy, including scandals over his artistic imagery and public statements.
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Georg Baselitz, the German painter who turned postwar art upside down, dies at 88Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inboxPublished Apr 30, 2026, 11:48 PMUpdated May 01, 2026, 12:04 AMListenApril 30 - Georg Baselitz liked to insist — sometimes as a taunt, sometimes as a shield — that he did not know how to paint. That he had "no talent".Rejected at 17 by the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, he talked his way into an academy in East Berlin only to be expelled two semesters later for "sociopolitical immaturity"."I was stupid," he recalled.
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