He was often described as an \u201cartist of rage\u201d and had a motto of \u201ccontradiction,\u201d according to dpa. <\/p>\n
His works hang in some of the world\u2019s great galleries and have fetched millions at auction. In 2017, German police announced they had recovered 15 stolen paintings and drawings by Baselitz worth around $2.9 million.<\/p>\n
![\"German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/.jpeg\")
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German artist Georg Baselitz poses with his work \u201cSchwester Rosi III\u201d (1995) in 2018.<\/p>\n
(Jens Meyer \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Baselitz recalled that some of his earliest recognition came in the 1960s through his series of golden-colored \u201cHero\u201d paintings, based on fictional characters from Russian civil war novels. The works depicted broken figures staggering toward the viewer in ragged uniforms \u2014 in distorted sizes, giant hands and small heads. His battle-weary hero, \u201cDer Hirte (The Shepherd)\u201d from 1966 won international acclaim.<\/p>\n
In 1969, Baselitz created \u201cDer Wald auf dem Kopf\u201d (The Forest on its Head), his first \u201cinverted\u201d painting \u2014 featuring trees upside down, a theme that would become one of his trademarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorg Baselitz did not just turn his paintings upside down; he also turned our thinking routines upside down,\u201d said President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany. \u201cHaving experienced the destruction and suffering of the Second World War as a child, the collapse of all order forced him to question everything around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baselitz mused about his long career in a recent video, commenting that \u201ctypical painting has never appealed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually wanted to be more of a black-and-white painter, and above all, I didn\u2019t want to work spatially, perspectively, with shadows and light and such things that arise with the imitation of nature,\u201d he said while seated in a wheelchair in a paint-smudged jacket. <\/p>\n
\u201cI must say that throughout my life, I was not aware that I was a painter of color, even though I am constantly told that I have such wonderful colors,\u201d Baselitz said.<\/p>\n