Last Sunday, we hosted a guided tour of the exhibition “George Condo. Confrontation” at the Museum Berggruen, led by association member and art historian Babette Werner. During the nearly two-hour tour through the museum’s 25 rooms, participants—comprising former fellows and association members—gained insight into the work of the American painter.

The exhibition places the artist’s paintings, drawings, collages, and sculptures from the early 1980s to the present in dialogue with artists of the Classical Modernist period. When juxtaposed with the works of Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Klee, and Giacometti, Condo’s nudes, still lifes, and portraits sometimes appear as parodies; at other times, they resemble them so closely that his own signature style is barely recognizable. In many works, the artist’s great sense of humor is evident, while others strike the viewer with their sharpness or aggressiveness. The artist is interested in bringing things together and seeing how they interact. Together with the museum’s curatorial team, he designed the hanging of the paintings and staged his works in dialogue with the existing masterpieces.

We thank Babette Werner for her guided tour.