Extended until 7 October 2018
On the three levels of the exhibition building, which opened in 2015 as an extension to Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, the Hilti Art Foundation is showing thirty-six selected paintings and sculptures from its internationally renowned private collection.
The exhibition starts on the lower ground level with a section devoted to an exploration of the human form, and more specifically the female form. The depictions of women by Lehmbruck, Hodler, Picasso, Léger and Laurens show life in full bloom and at its most beautiful. In contrast, Alberto Giacometti's sculpture Quatre femmes sur socle (1950), for example, conveys a sense of tangible sensuality withdrawing into aloof immateriality.
Paintings by artists of classical modernism define the character of the first upper level. The works on display here include four paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the key representative of the artist group "Brücke"; they are from three distinct creative periods, during which the artist worked in Dresden, Berlin and Davos respectively. Further highlights in this section include paintings by Max Beckmann, such as Selbstbildnis mit Glaskugel (1936), which is now surrounded by other Beckmann works from the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Works by Kandinsky, Klee, Dubuffet or Wols illustrate paths into abstraction.
The third upper level is devoted to paintings from 1980 to the present day. This section includes works by Imi Knoebel, Gotthard Graubner and Sean Scully, three artists who applied completely different approaches and techniques, but who all represent abstract art in its most mature form.
The exhibition Kirchner, Léger, Scully & more falls into line with the opening exhibition by presenting some of the artworks from the first show in a new context, thus giving visitors continued access to these seminal works.
The exhibition was curated by Uwe Wieczorek, curator of the Hilti Art Foundation, and is accompanied by a catalogue with explanatory texts about all the artworks.