Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The painter Hanns Kunitzberger was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1955 and lives and works in Berlin. He has recently created three canvases in direct response to specific paintings of the 13th - 15th century from the Gemäldegalerie's collection, which all have one thing in common: they are all gold-ground panels containing richly polychrome figures.

One of these three paintings remains further on show in the Gemäldegalerie until 2016.

Hanns Kunitzberger has transformed the visual impressions gained in viewing these historical works into compositions that resemble the older paintings in terms of format, but which represent a radical departure from them in terms of form. The result is a set of non-representational abstract works, whose gradations of colour and colour fields nevertheless provide a visual echo of the panels that inspired them. The startling juxtaposition demon- strates the continued impact of Old Masters on contemporary artists today, and also shows that their works are nevertheless resolutely independent artworks.