Der Hirte (The shepherd)
Georg Baselitz
‘Der Hirte (The Shepherd)’ (1965) belongs to Georg Baselitz’s renowned Heroes series (1965 – 1966), a mythic, psychological exploration of post-war German identity.
In 1965, Baselitz spent six months in Florence at the Villa Romana, where he studied 16th-century Italian Mannerism. The Hero paintings reflect the influence of Mannerism on Baselitz’s practice. While the figures are visibly war-torn and weary, they appear monumental due to their imperfect proportions and compression within the image. In contrast to many of the Heroes, this vibrant backdrop offers a glimmer of hope, a sense that a brighter future is possible.
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Georg Baselitz
Der Hirte (The shepherd)
- 1966
- Oil on canvas
- 162.5 x 131 cm
Georg Baselitz’s ‘Der Hirte (The shepherd)’ will be presented by the gallery at Art Basel Paris 2026.
Gallery Director Giorgia von Albertini discusses Georg Baselitz’s Der Hirte (The shepherd) (1966)
‘I was forced to question everything, to be ‘naïve’, to start again… I’m a Mannerist in the sense that I deform things. I’m brutal, naïve and Gothic’ [1]
Georg Baselitz
Artwork: Georg Baselitz, Der Hirte (The shepherd), 1966 © Georg Baselitz. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
[1] Georg Baselitz quoted in Isabelle Dervaux ‘It’s All Looking Backwards’ in ‘Georg Baselitz. 100 Drawings. From the Beginning until the Present’, Munich/DE: Himmer, 2022, p. 23.