09.07.2025
Neue Nationalgalerie
With two important works by Ellsworth Kelly and Mario Merz, the collection of the Nationalgalerie receives a substantial addition. Both works come from Sammlung Lafrenz, which is distinguished by its focus on art from the 1960s and 1970s and includes key works of Minimal Art, Arte Povera, Post-Painterly Abstraction, and Conceptual Art. The works will be on view starting 9 July 2025, in the collection presentation Extreme Tension. Art between Politics and Society. Collection of the Nationalgalerie 1945 – 2000.
The monumental work Gambe che corrono (1967/1980) by Italian artist Mario Merz (1925–2003) enters the collection as a donation. It will be displayed in the exhibition section “Nature & Culture”. The installation consists of a wall-sized canvas showing several schematic, overlapping, and human legs side-by-side – all in motion, all pointing in the same direction. The leg fragments are painted and drawn; glowing blue neon numbers shimmer mysteriously on top of them. In front of the canvas, tightly bound willow rods stand like a natural fence, partially obscuring or revealing the image depending on the arrangement.
On long-term loan, Ellsworth Kelly’s (1923–2015) Untitled, EK 689 (1983) will be presented in the section “The Performative Image” of the collection display. It ranks among the major and most radical works by the American artist. With its dynamically curved wedge shape extending all the way to the floor, it breaks up the notion of a static image in a bold and striking way. The grounding of the heavy metal work directly on the floor transforms the painting into a sculpture, referencing a vision of art that does not remain distant “on the wall” but instead thrusts assertively into the viewer’s physical space. Depending on the viewer’s position, the relationship between surface and form shifts – turning the act of viewing into a spatial and performative experience.
Both works expand the wide-ranging and diverse retrospective of post-1945 art already presented in the collection display. Following recent additions of works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Christoph Schlingensief, Maria Lassnig, Ewa Partum, and Cornelia Schleime, not only is the museum’s permanent collection sustainably enriched, but the thematic profile of the exhibition Extreme Tension is further deepened. Through ongoing, rotating additions to the collection presentation, the Neue Nationalgalerie continues to offer its visitors fresh insights and new discoveries.
