For the first time, Maria Lassnig (1919 Kappel am Krappfeld – 2014 Vienna) and Edvard Munch (1863 Løten – 1944 Ekely near Oslo) appear together in a major exhibition. On the face of it, the Austrian artist and the Norwegian painter – of whose paintings the Kunsthaus holds the largest collection outside Norway – are separated by more than half a century. Yet there are a surprising number of parallels between their works and biographies. The thematic juxtaposition allows for a new reading of their art. Both employed colour not just as a creative element but as a powerful device for expressing inner lives: emotions, physical feelings and relationships to the world.
For Lassnig and Munch, painting was more than simply an artistic technique: it was a form of self-interrogation. Their works depict internal and external states that have an immediate emotional impact. The exhibition’s subtitle, ‘Flow of Paint = Flow of Life’, is taken from a painting by Maria Lassnig. It pinpoints what links the two together: the unbreakable bond between life and art.
The presentation includes some 160 paintings and works on paper, and is being organized with the generous support of MUNCH in Oslo and the Maria Lassnig Foundation.
An exhibition by the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
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Ill.: Maria Lassnig, Flow of Paint = Flow of Life, 1996 © Maria Lassnig Stiftung / 2025, ProLitteris, Zurich
