Sigmar Polke: The Native Forest Floor

Higher Powers Command: Show Polke!

With works from the 1960s to the 2000s, the exhibition in the Schinkel Pavilion brings together paintings, photography, films and prints - including works that have not been on public display for decades.

Sigmar Polke, Flüchtende, 1992 – Carré d’Art-Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nîmes; Photo: David Hugenin.

In its rooms steeped in history, the Schinkel Pavilion is showing concise works by Sigmar Polke (1941-2010) that speak about the experiences of war, militarisation and flight and reflect on the medium of the image in its mass media embedding. Polke was interested in visual information and the power of images from an early age, is a role model for artists of younger generations and is of unbroken relevance - it is precisely the supposedly historical that proves to be highly topical.

With works from the 1960s to the 2000s, the exhibition brings together paintings, photographs, films and prints - including works that have not been on public display for decades. The political is everywhere in Polke's work. The size of his creative cosmos and his flair for innovation are groundbreaking. Polke anchors his pictorial sources in the reality of newspaper news in order to look far beyond modernism to history with a brash spirit. Polke was not only a precise analyst, but also a critical commentator ahead of his time.

The exhibition was initiated and organised by Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, together with the Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles. The exhibition has been curated by Bice Curiger.

Runtime: Thu, 12/09/2024 to Sun, 02/02/2025

Takes place here:

• Schinkel Pavillon