Kirchner painting on show again in Basel after more than 100 years
Kirchner painting on show again in Basel after more than 100 years
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Kirchner painting on show again in Basel after more than 100 years
The painting "Dance in a Variety Theatre" by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was thought to be lost for decades. Now it is on public display at the Kunstmuseum Basel for the first time in over 100 years.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Kirchner-Gemälde nach über 100 Jahren in Basel wieder zu sehen
Original
Kirchner painted the large-format painting in 1911, shortly before the German artist’s attention turned from the variety theatres to the streets of Berlin. It shows a dance scene – a so-called “cakewalk” – with a black protagonist and a white dancer. The “cakewalk” originated in the US. The enslaved people made fun of the dances of their white masters. The winning couple was rewarded with cake.
The history of the painting, which was last shown in an exhibition in Berlin in 1923 before disappearing, makes fascinating reading. It was only documented in black and white photographs, some of which Kirchner had taken himself.
The painting ended up in the collection of the Protestant councillor of commerce Max Gläser, who acquired it shortly before his death in 1931. It was offered to the Basel Art Museum as a bequest in 1932, but the museum could not afford the painting at the time. It ended up in the possession of another private collector.
During the Nazi reign of terror, the painting, which was considered “degenerate”, had to be hidden. It ended up on a farm, where it was discovered by French soldiers in 1945. They were obviously not art lovers, as evidenced by a bullet hole in the head of one of the dancers and a bayonet thrust in the body of the dancer.
The collector finally bequeathed the work to his children in 1980 on the condition that it should be returned to the public domain. It took 44 years for this to happen. On June 7, 2024, the painting was purchased at auction by the Im Obersteg Foundation for around €7 million (CHF6.5 million) and subsequently restored at the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Now “Tanz im Varieté” is on public display again for the first time in over 100 years in the “Paarlauf” exhibition.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey below to help us understand your needs.
External Content
Don’t miss your chance to make a difference! Take our survey and share your thoughts.
Popular Stories
More
Demographics
How retiring baby boomers could crash Swiss property market
This content was published on
Swiss politicians from across the political spectrum have called on the government to protect minorities in the face of continuing attacks in Syria.
Swiss court rejects appeal to release funds linked to former Ukraine regime
This content was published on
Swiss Supreme Court rejects appeal to unfreeze the assets of people linked to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Sahara sand clouds Swiss visibility after Canadian smoke
This content was published on
Sahara dust has further clouded visibility in Swiss skies, adding to smoke particles that drifted over from forest fires in Canada.
Nuclear weapons spending exceeded $100 billion for first time
This content was published on
Spending by the nine nuclear powers topped the $100 billion mark for the first time last year, according to the NGO ICAN.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.