The figures in the works of German painter Karl Kunz (1905—1971) transcend the boundaries of human anatomy, find themselves in unreal, dreamlike scenarios and dissolve into abstract color fields. Kunz's vivid, multi-coloured, exuberant compositions are strongly influenced by Surrealism, but also testify to his interest in contemporary artists such as Pablo Picasso, Oscar Schlemmer, and Max Ernst. The young painter's career was harshly interrupted by the Nazi regime when he was forced to leave his post at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle in 1933. Until the end of World War II, he was unable to publicly exhibit and practiced his art in secret. Nevertheless, Kunz developed into one of the most innovative German figure painters of the post-war period. Although he participated in the General German Art Exhibition in Dresden in 1946 and exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1954, he is only loosely anchored in the art historical canon. Thus, Kunz is a true rediscovery today.
The exhibition “Fantastic Bodies” shows the originality and innovative power of Kunz's oeuvre taking his depiction of the human figure as an example. It focuses on his early work, explores art historical references and the absorbing web of interpersonal relationships on his canvases. It shows his fantastic figures, which are equally imbued with eros and transience, in the space between reality and the unconscious and on the edge of non-representationalism.
The exhibition is on view until February 8, 2026. On this date, we cordially invite you to the closing event with a lecture by Dr. Thorsten Schneider, Leuphana University Lüneburg, with the title “To the dying person who wants to be happy, the unfortunate who wants to live. Bodies in the art of Karl Kunz” (in German).
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Pressespiegel
Temporary Exhibition
:
Lifelines. Across borders
An art project by Hanna Melnykova
In the summer of 2025, photo artist Hanna Melnykova emigrated from Germany to Ukraine. The Museum Center for Persecuted Arts is showing the photographic documentation of their performative walk.
Excursion
:
Encountering the past — art and memory in Krakow and Auschwitz
Study and remembrance trip to Poland
The Center for Persecuted Arts offers from April 9 to 12/13, 2026 on the occasion of the exhibition “Marian Ruzamski. Art of Remembrance” in Krakow a guided study trip to Poland.
Vernissage
:
“Änne Wagner” exhibition
Biographical and artistic engagement with a Solingen eyewitness
Students from the Humboldtgymnasium present collages, sketches for graphic novels and texts that were created as a result of dealing with the biography of Änne Wagner.
