Maria Lassnig and Edvard Munch

More than half a century separates Maria Lassnig (1919–2014) and Edvard Munch (1863–1944). Yet both share an interest in the great questions of humanity. In their art, both investigate bodies, emotions, illness and death, as well as the relationship between humans and nature. While Munch focuses on the cycle of life, death and renewal, Lassnig consistently directs her gaze inwards. Her ‘body awareness pictures’ are born out of a direct sense of her own body, conferring unmistakeable painterly form on inner states.

Lassnig engaged intensively with art history – and Edvard Munch was one of her most important points of reference. In the exhibition, familiar works by Munch are situated in a new context: his deployment of line and colour, as well as his picture compositions, emerge in a new light when seen in the mirror of Lassnig’s painting. At the same time, it becomes clear just how deeply Munch’s work is embedded in Lassnig’s artistic thinking. Comprising some 150 works including 78 paintings, the exhibition features exceptional loans from the Munchmuseet in Oslo and the Maria Lassnig Foundation in Vienna, setting up numerous unprecedented juxtapositions.

Supported by UBS, Partner Kunsthaus Zürich, UNIQA Kunstversicherung Schweiz, the Truus and Gerrit van Riemsdijk Foundation and the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation.

An exhibition by the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Hamburger Kunsthalle.