Georg Baselitz Quotes on Art

Georg Baselitz is German painter and sculptor known for his expressive paintings and wooden sculpture. He is best known for his upside down paintings. He produces paintings, prints and sculpture. Famous Georg Baselitz artworks include “Rebel”, “Folkdance – Tired”, “Bonjour Monsieur Courbet”, “Oberon (Remix)”, and “Where is the Yellow Milkjug, Mrs Bird?”.

Mini biography: Born Hans-Georg Kern on the 23rd of January, 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, Germany. His mother was Lieselotte Block and his father was Johannes Kern. He married Johanna Elke Kretzschmar. He has two sons: Daniel Blau and Anton Kern. Georg Baselitz lives and works in Austria.

Check out these books on Georg Baselitz: “Georg Baselitz: Time“, “Georg Baselitz: Paintings and Sculpture 1960-2008“, and “Georg Baselitz: Back Then, In Between, and Today“.

Georg Baselitz Art Quotes

The reality is the picture, it is most certainly not in the picture.  Georg Baselitz

I paint German artists whom I admire. I paint their pictures, their work as painters, and their portraits too. But oddly enough, each of these portraits ends up as a picture of a woman with blonde hair. I myself have never been able to work out why this happens. Georg Baselitz

I begin with an idea, but as I work, the picture takes over. Then there is the struggle between the idea I preconceived.. and the picture that fights for its own life. Georg Baselitz

I don’t like things that can be reproduced. Wood isn’t important in itself but rather in the fact that objects made in it are unique, simple, unpretentious. Georg Baselitz

I always feel attacked when I’m asked about my painting. Georg Baselitz

The most intact world is the world of art. Nothing is better or more interesting to me than paintings. And Sculptures. But mainly paintings. Georg Baselitz

I love my old paintings as postulates, as fresh starting points, but I have to destroy them. I have to make a new manifesto. Georg Baselitz

What counts most is finding new ways to get the world down in paint on my own terms. Georg Baselitz

Many of my advisers, especially my wife, say that I am too bold. But what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to make statements that are politic? Am I supposed to be friendly? That’s just not who I am. Georg Baselitz

I always rejected any connection with the expressionist or neo-expressionist tradition. Unlike the expressionists, I have never been interested in renewing the world through the vehicle of art. Georg Baselitz

The artist is not responsible to any one. His social role is asocial.. his only responsibility consists in an attitude to the work he does. Georg Baselitz

I used to be a professor and 80% of my students were women. So there is a possibility for women and girls to study art, but they are less successful than the men. You can count and the numbers will prove me right. Georg Baselitz

I had always loved expressionist painting, like every European. In fact I admired it all the more because these were precisely the paintings despised by my father’s generation. Georg Baselitz

Every now and again I do a self-portrait, and always in quite a strange manner. Georg Baselitz

This idea of “looking toward the future” is nonsense. I realized that simply going backwards is better. You stand in the rear of the train—looking at the tracks flying back below—or you stand at the stern of a boat and look back—looking back at what’s gone. Georg Baselitz

Changes in style result from intellectual processes. I continually try to find something new so that I can change. I still do it today. Georg Baselitz

If you’re remixing popular music you change the rhythm or the sound… What I do is something entirely different. I have thought for a long time about what to call what I do. I like the word “remix” because it comes from youth culture. Georg Baselitz

I always work out of uncertainty but when a painting’s finished it becomes a fixed idea, apparently a final statement. In time though, uncertainty returns.. your thought process goes on. Georg Baselitz

More on German Artist Georg Baselitz

How has Georg Baselitz influenced your art making? I remember as an art student who couldn’t afford to buy art books, I would borrow a Georg Baselitz book published by Taschen from the library for months at a time. I kept re-borrowing it again and again. I never did get around to reading it but it was a very well looked at book. Let us know what you think about Georg Baselitz in the comments below.

For more on the famous German artist here’s three excellent Georg Baselitz books: “Georg Baselitz: Time“, “Georg Baselitz: Paintings and Sculpture 1960-2008“, and “Georg Baselitz: Back Then, In Between, and Today“.