ILLUSION

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Press information

Dream – Identity – Reality

Curator

Dr Sandra Pisot

Assistant Curator

Dr Johanna Hornauer

Press Conference

Thursday, 5 December 2024, 11 a.m.

Opening

Tursday, 5 December 2024, 7 p.m.

With a comprehensive exhibition spanning several epochs, the Hamburger Kunsthalle will shed light on the diverse facets of the theme of illusion in art, from the Old Masters to today. Ever since antiquity, artists everywhere have been making use of the “trompe-l’oeil” technique, and it was particularly popular in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. The desire for illusionistic renderings then waned during the Romantic period, but this type of art never completely disappeared from the repertoire and it continues to fascinate artists to this day. The exhibition will show how illusion means far more than merely deceiving the eye. It is manifested in the (illusionistic) self-love of Narcissus as well as in spatial illusions in architecture, in the play of concealing and revealing via the pictorial motifs of the curtain and the mask, in the meaning of the open or closed window to the world, and in depictions of visions and dreams. Based on some 150 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, installations and video works, the show traces the many different forms taken by hyperrealism, reality, fiction, dream, transformation and deception. Among the exhibits are major works from the Hamburger Kunsthalle as well as loans from national and international collections.

Art theoretical, philosophical and psychological positions from Plato to Leon Battista Alberti, Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor W. Adorno, Sigmund Freud, André Breton and Jean Baudrillard accompany the artistic explorations of the theme of illusion and encourage viewers to critically question the reliability of their own perception and their image of supposed reality. Sigmar Polke posed in 1976 the provocative question: »Can you always believe your eyes?« Against the backdrop of fake news and artificial intelligence, this question has taken on a new momentum and topicality, so that the theme of the exhibition ties in with debates in today’s society. 

Press Release

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Supported by

Logo_Freunde der Kunsthalle
Logo_Hubertus Wald Stiftung
Logo_Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung
Logo Martha Pulvermacher Stiftung
Logo_Böttcher Stiftung
Logo_BKM Behörde Kultur und Medien englisch
Press Spokeswoman & Head of Press and Public Relations
Mira Forte
Cindy Sherman (*1954) Bus Rides, 1976/2000, © Cindy Sherman Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Cindy ShermanBus Rides, 1976/2000
Lorenzo Lippi (1606–1665) Allégorie de la Simulation, um 1640, Musées d’Angers © Musées d’Angers, RMN-Grand Palais / Benoît Touchard
Lorenzo Lippi Die Allegorie der Täuschung (Allégorie de la Simulation), um 1640
Anish Kapoor (*1954) Concave Convex Mirror (Triangle), 2019, © Anish Kapoor; Courtesy Lisson Gallery. Photography by Dave Morgan.
Anish Kapoor (*1954)Concave Convex Mirror (Triangle), 2019
Gerrit Dou (1613–1675), Alte Frau mit Kerze, 1661, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Köln © Foto: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln, rba_d029745
Gerrit Dou Alte Frau mit Kerze, 1661
Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664) Schweißtuch der hl. Veronika, um 1635–40, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum Foto: Anna Danielsson / Nationalmuseum
Francisco de ZurbaránSchweißtuch der hl. Veronika, um 1635–40
Gerhard Richter_Umgeschlagenes Blatt_1965, Gerhard Richter Archiv, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Schenkung von Karin Girke aus der Sammlung Raimund und Karin Girke, 2021
Gerhard Richter Umgeschlagenes Blatt, 1965
Johann Heinrich Füssli (1741–1825) Die Vision des Dichters (Shakespeare), 1806–07, Stiftung für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Winterthur. Foto: SKKG 2020
Johann Heinrich FüssliDie Vision des Dichters (Shakespeare), 1806–07
René Magritte (1898–1967) The Key of the Field (La Clef des champs), 1936, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid © René Magritte VEGAP, Madrid, 2024
René MagritteThe Key of the Field (La Clef des champs), 1936
James Ensor (1860–1949), Stillleben mit Masken, 1896, © SHK / Hamburger Kunsthalle / bpk  Foto: Elke Walford
James EnsorStillleben mit Masken, 1896
Lars Eidinger (*1976) Berlin, 2022, © Lars Eidinger; Courtesy Ruttkowski;68, Köln, Düsseldorf, Paris, New York
Lars EidingerBerlin, 2022
Nan Goldin (*1953), Hotel Room Zurich, 1988, Fotografie, 39,4 x 26,7 cm, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Sammlung Hanck © Nan Goldin Foto: Kunstpalast – Horst Kolberg – ARTOTHEK
Nan GoldinHotel Room Zurich, 1988
Johann Georg Hinz (um 1630/31–1688), Kunstkammerregal, 1666, © Hamburger Kunsthalle / bpk Foto: Elke Walford
Johann Georg HinzKunstkammerregal, 1666
John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), Echo und Narziss, 1903, Öl auf Leinwand, 109,2 x 189,2 cm, National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery © Courtesy National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery
John William WaterhouseEcho und Narziss, 1903
Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) Bauerngehöft in der Nähe von Duivendrecht, 1916, Kunstmuseum Den Haag – bequest Salomon B. Slijper
Piet MondrianBauerngehöft in der Nähe von Duivendrecht, 1916
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