To commemorate the centenary of Judit Reigl’s birth and the acquisition of three main works by this Hungarian-born French artist (1923 – 2020), the Neue Nationalgalerie is presenting her first-ever solo exhibition in a German museum. Through this gift, the Nationalgalerie is the first public collection in Germany to own works by this important painter closely associated with the French Art Informel movement in the 1950s.

This overview of Reigl’s career showcases a major figure in European art from the second half of the 20th century. On view are sixteen, mostly large-scale paintings from Reigl’s painted oeuvre ‒ works both abstract and figurative.

The artist began her studies at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest. In 1950, the rise of Stalinism led Riegl to flee her homeland and settle in Paris. Although her early, mostly dream-like paintings were still indebted to Surrealism, she turned to lyrical abstraction at the start of the 1950s. Figurative elements are repeatedly found in Riegl’s paintings. In the mid-1960s, they would culminate in the male torsos in her Man series.

In addition to the paintings generously donated to the Neue Nationalgalerie by the Fonds de dotation Judit Reigl – Center of Dominance (1959), Mass Writing (1960) and the monumental triptych Man (1967–69) – the exhibition features central works from the 1950s to the 1980s, offering extensive insights into the artist’s richly layered creative development.

Curator

The exhibition is curated by Maike Steinkamp.

Publication

A catalogue ‒ the first publication about the artist in German ‒ accompanies the exhibition (Softcover, 88 pages, 55 coloured illustrations, German/English, €28, ISBN 978-3-96912-122-1).

A special exhibition of the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin