Markus Lüpertz, a true dandy (photo Laure Martin)

Kopf, 1981

He stands wearing a black hat and a stick and speaks in slow elegant German : Markus Lüpertz was at the Museum of Modern art of the City of Paris to present his new show of 140 paintings and sculptures. He is magnificent. « I am fascinated and very happy that my work is competing today with the beauty of Paris ». The day was a stunning spring sunny clear day and the Eiffel tower was glowing in front of the museum. The German artist born in Bohemia (now the Czech republic) in 1941, was trained in Krefels (Westphalia) and went to Berlin at 20 where he discovered De Kooning. He seemed genuinely happy to be here. The exhibition was initiated by Director Fabrice Hergott after he received a large donation of works by the German collector Michael Werner. The show is built retrospectively and finishes with the artists’s first works « Dithyrambic paintings ».

Gescheiterte Hoffnung, 1967

Rückenakt, 2006

A contemporary of Baselitz and Immendorff, he starts with figurative paintings including very simplified forms and enlarged details. Large formats with contemporary historical references,  mythological and antic themes inspired by Poussin, Goya and Courbet. Lüpertz uses sculpture and gouache (there are 9 spectacular ones of Mozart). He discovered Maillol’s nude sculptures shown by André Malraux in 1975 outside the Louvre. And his « Nude from the back » series is a repetition of torsos almost abstract but very powerful inspired by Matisse.

Zelt 40-dithyrambisch, 1965

Return from Egypt, and Printemps (after Poussin) are two works I particularly liked with his small painted bronze sculptures. A black and white film is shown halfway through the exhibition where Lüpertz stages himself as an eccentric in a forest. His paintings are powerful and unique, and you might like some more than others but one thing is certain, is that you come out of the show very disturbed and you think about these paintings for a long time afterwards. This is one of the major exhibitions you can see for free on the Nuit des Musées, on May 16 th, when French museums stay open till midnight or all night, around the country. (Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, closed Mondays)