Hans Hartung

Hans Hartung was an influential German-French abstract artist known for his experimental approaches to painting and drawing. He moved to Paris in 1924, where he embraced the avant-garde art scene and developed his abstract style. His work, characterized by expressive lines, shapes, and colors, earned him international recognition, including the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale in 1960. Hartung passed away in 1989, but his contributions to modern art continue to have an impact.

The exhibition at MDD focuses on Hartung’s works from the 1960s and 1989. The works from the 1960s made Hartung world-famous but also sparked strong reactions from subsequent avant-gardes. In the year of his death, Hartung created a series of works that demonstrate tremendous freedom. They even have a youthful quality, exploding with their use of color and their speed of execution; as if all pressure on the artist has been lifted, and he has regained his total freedom.

Although both periods are formally miles apart, there is clearly the same artist at work. The confrontation between the two periods seems appropriate for a better understanding of the thinking, doing, and being of an artist.