A commissioned painting for the Munich Künstlerhaus for its 125th anniversary on March 29, 2025.

Interpretation of the paintings of the window prospectuses 2025 in the Munich Künstlerhaus
The idea for the interpretation “ 125 Years of the Munich Künstlerhaus ” arose largely from the architectural specifications of the ballroom with its three large windows.
Assigning these themes to three themes, they represent an illustrative sequence of free, pictorial interpretations of the creation, implementation and use of the Künstlerhaus. The division of the three brochures into " Yesterday " (HERI), " Today " (HODIE) and " Tomorrow " (CRAS) was therefore obvious.

HODIE

Culture as the center of gravity
We are seeing a changing worldview, from a heliocentric to a culture-centric one. No, Nile Cola Copernicus wasn't wrong. But the question arises in art: what does the human soul revolve around, and what gravitational pull keeps it in a stable orbit? Everything revolves around culture, with its artistic interpretations—such as poetry, painting, music, dance, and theater—of everything human, of everything with a soul, of all living nature.
On a fertile cultural soil, reflecting like a kaleidoscope, art can flourish and shine in all its colorful facets. The Munich Künstlerhaus stands on such soil.

radiance
The charisma of all those who led the Künstlerhaus, who filled and continue to fill it with life with their commitment, their ideas, and their passion, is visible far and wide. Their ideas continue to move us today, as if on invisible threads.
What allows sound to reflect in our soul an emotional image of the shining moon and the moving stars?
What makes people of different backgrounds come together to interpret a spiritual state in resonances?
What gives our perception of our surroundings a new perspective on things, a new meaning?

New perception, new self-image
With his first ready-made in 1913—an object made from a white kitchen stool with upside-down bicycle tires—McCel Duchamp essentially turned the concept of art on its head, forever changing our everyday perception. He sensitized our perspective in art and, from then on, made us ask, like philosophers, "What is it really that we see?" The centaur is amazed, shakes his head, and, with his impetuous nature, pauses for a moment to reflect. The painter finds himself in a new present and breaks his tools to begin anew.
The Munich Künstlerhaus has entered a new era, the 'now.' Then as now, it serves as a space for art and protection for the arts and its young talent. A helpful and necessary springboard and reliable starting block for gifted, talented young performers and artists.
All with the hope that tomorrow the moon will set and the sun will rise again and that through the attractive forces of art, which has developed over 125 years of growth in the gravitational center of the Munich Künstlerhaus, will keep everyone in rotating equilibrium and thus further counteract the instability and the fall into cultural nothingness.
If we believe the philosopher Martin Heidegger, it is the fear of looking into nothingness, into the abyss, that haunts us and the knowledge of our own finiteness that we are constantly moving towards.
It's good to know that today, on our journey to finitude, we can take a short ride on the U5 to 'Stachus' station and, instead of staring into space, take a look at the very entertaining and diverting program of the Künstlerhaus.
Precisely, that's the point! To fill an empty space—the void—with meaningful culture and art. Thrown into the world and finding a new beginning, like the existentialists Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoire, art reinvents itself daily.

A first move
The impetus of a prime mover who recognizes this meaning and purposefully directs his energy toward good in a movement from the possible to the real. Once initiated, the multitude of each individual artistic sun and planet, large and small, ensures a constant rotation of culture—which continually gives birth to new stars in the course of its orbits—and illuminates the surrounding darkness with its radiance.
As Thelonious Monk – an American jazz musician, pianist and composer – aptly said: “It's always night, or we wouldn't need light.”

Pictures of the creation of the motif HODIE on the primed, wooden painting surface

First draft in pencil and watercolor on paper,
Format approx. 33 x 22 cm

Transferring and tracing the design with a brush onto the primed wooden painting surface

Circles and curves are placed on the painting surface with the help of a thread and brush

The preliminary drawing with set shading on the painting surface is ready for coloring

Intermediate stage with partial coloring of the motif on the wooden painting surface

General view of the windows in the ballroom of the Munich Künstlerhaus