Denk nicht, schau!

Wolfgang Hollegha (1929–2023) is a master of precise condensation and reduction. This makes him strikingly relevant at a time when visual stimuli are omnipresent. For the painter, the contemplation of nature marks the beginning of the dialogue between figuration and abstraction: “If I did not have the visible world as a starting point, what I do would be nothing but purely arbitrary smearing. I need the visible as a starting point in order to transform it.”
This attitude forms the cornerstone of his oeuvre.

At the mre, Hollegha is celebrated with his major German premiere. He ranks among the most significant Austrian painters after 1945. As early as 1960, he achieved considerable success in New York. Clement Greenberg, one of the most influential American art critics, regarded Hollegha as on a par with the protagonists of Abstract Expressionism. In the United States he exhibited alongside artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland. Our new permanent exhibition of the Reinhard Ernst Collection, opening in June, allows for a moving reunion with his artistic contemporaries.

Despite this international recognition, Hollegha deliberately chose not to pursue a career in the art metropolises. In 1962 he withdrew to a farmhouse on the Rechberg mountain, north of Graz. Working in seclusion, he developed a richly colourful, often monumental body of work over the course of six decades.

This exhibition was a heartfelt wish of Wolfgang Hollegha. He was closely involved in planning the opening at the Neue Galerie Graz until the very end. The mre is delighted to present his work in this scope for the first time in Germany.

An exhibition by the Museum Reinhard Ernst, Wiesbaden, in cooperation with the Neue Galerie Graz/Universalmuseum Joanneum