Georg Baselitz
Georg Baselitz (* January 23, 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony; real name Hans-Georg Kern) is a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. He became internationally known in the 1970s with figurative, expressive paintings. Baselitz's artistic influences stem from a variety of inspirations, including Soviet-era illustrations, Mannerist prints, and African sculptures. The destruction and suffering of World War II had a lasting impact on the artist. In this context, Baselitz stated in an interview, "I was born into a destroyed order, into a destroyed landscape, into a destroyed people, into a destroyed society. And I didn't want to introduce a new order. I had seen more than enough so-called orders. I was forced to question everything, to be 'naive' again, to start over."
The theme of destruction, along with other autobiographical circumstances, recurs in many of his works. Disrupting orders and conventions of perception with the help of his painting has been an important leitmotif in Baselitz's work ever since. Since 1969 he has painted his motifs upside down, which helped him achieve a breakthrough and makes his works unmistakable to this day.