{"id":49074,"date":"2026-09-18T13:05:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/?p=49074"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:23:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:23:23","slug":"of-thinking-and-looking-when-art-meets-philosophy-hollegha-and-wittgenstein-in-the-museum-reinhard-ernst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/museum\/aktuelles\/of-thinking-and-looking-when-art-meets-philosophy-hollegha-and-wittgenstein-in-the-museum-reinhard-ernst\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Thinking and Looking. When Art meets Philosophy: Hollegha and Wittgenstein in the Museum Reinhard Ernst."},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cCogito, ergo sum\u201d \u2013 I think, therefore I am, stated confidently Ren\u00e9 Descartes in the 17th Century [1]<\/a>, while David Hume, father of the empirical philosophy giving experience the upper hand over the rational world, would still ask a hundred years later: \u201cWhere am I, or what? From what causes do I derive my existence, and to what condition shall I return?\u201d.[2] <\/a><\/a> Thinking about thinking has been a human concern since we have been able to articulate language- the latter becoming a central focus in particular at the beginning of the 20th Century philosophy. Is language capable of describing every single idea we may have, can it grasp every thought or is it an intrinsically flawed and limited system?<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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These and similar questions entertained Ludwig Wittgenstein, a young Austrian engineer turned philosopher, who moved to England in order to study under the Cambridge professor Bertrand Russell, author of the Principles of Mathematics<\/em> (1903). Wittgenstein was impressed by the ability of mathematics to convey ideas and truths through propositions. The structure that served mathematics here was logic, and Wittgenstein sought to apply these principles to understanding language and how we convey ideas. The philosopher came to the radical conclusion that language was incapable of articulating the answers to transcendental questions such as the purpose and meaning of our life. \u2018There is indeed the inexpressible\u2019 <\/em>Wittgenstein would state in his Tractatus logico-philosophicus [3]<\/a><\/em>. Interestingly, this quote gave title to Hollegha\u2019s last monographic exhibition at the Joanneum in Graz in 2025. So how does a painter so concentrated on his immediate surroundings and the objects within it relate to a philosopher who sought to understand the structures that articulate our perception of the world?<\/p>\n

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Wolfgang Hollegha, Rindenschiff, 1983, Estate of the artist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Worn out books for an avid reader: Hollegha’s library. Click on the image to see a more detailed view of the artist’s library and archive. Photo: Ines Gutierrez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Hollegha was an avid reader of Wittgenstein\u2019s work. Hollegha\u2019s son Daniel recalls his father\u2019s philosophy books to be completely worn out as if Hollegha intensely looked for answers for his own artistic quest in these texts. The artist approached reality through his senses, through intense observation before setting off to work, in order to translate the essence of the object into his own unique pictorial language. A language with colour as its structure and music at its heart<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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After publishing his Tractatus<\/em>, Wittgenstein thought he had solved the need for our pointless questing and kept quiet for decades. In his Philosophical Investigations<\/em>, published posthumously in 1953, he pondered on the importance of meaning and its associations, and asked us to stop thinking and gain knowledge through our senses and intuition. [4]<\/a> It is his \u201cdon\u2019t think, look!\u201d which gives title to this year\u2019s monographic exhibition at the Museum Reinhard Ernst.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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From the inexpressible of language to grasping meaning through our senses there is a leap of faith: we may be potentially clueless as to why we are here, after all, but perhaps there is no need to even ask that question in the first place, our head will not be the one to tell us but our senses will guide us to the answers we are looking for. And through these senses we get to experience how wonderfully different an ordinary object can be: all we need to do is look at it through Hollegha\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t been yet, do not miss this fantastic exhibition! Open until the 25th October. On the 25th itself you have the unique chance to view the documentary The Hero outside the Spotlight<\/em> by Konrad Weixelbraun with the artist\u2019s son. You can find out more about the programme and get your tickets here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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This antique caroussel horse was a recurring source of inspiration for the artist. Photo: Ines Gutierrez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Text: Ines Gutierrez, Museum Reinhard Ernst
\nProudly written without AI. With many thanks to Daniel Hollegha for his input and Kathrin Gr\u00fcn for translating the text into German.<\/p>\n

Endnotes & further reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Descartes, Ren\u00e9, Discours de la M\u00e9thode<\/em>, 1637. Online PDF available on https:\/\/philosophie.cegeptr.qc.ca p. 22 (last accessed 17.09.2026)
\n[2] <\/a>Hume, David, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding<\/em>, 1748. Online version available at https:\/\/davidhume.org\/texts\/t\/1\/4\/7 T 1.4.7.8, SBN 268-9 (last accessed 17.09.2026)
\n[3]<\/a> Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Tractatus logico-philosophicus<\/em>, 1922. Online version available at https:\/\/wittgensteinproject.org\/w\/index.php\/Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus_(English) (last accessed 17.09.2026)
\n[4]<\/a> Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Philosphische Untersuchungen<\/em>, 1953, Online version available at https:\/\/www.wittgensteinproject.org\/w\/index.php\/Philosophische_Untersuchungen ) (last accessed 17.09.2026)<\/p>\n

For further reading on the artist, do get our exhibition catalogue<\/a>!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is autumn. The woods surrounding Wiesbaden echo some of the hues in Hollegha\u2019s Rindenschiff (Bark Boat) of 1983: mustard yellow, burgundy red, deep oranges against a crisp blue sky.
\nAs the exhibition Don\u2019t Think, Look! draws to a close at the end of October, I would like to reflect on the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889\u20131951), whose work is quoted in the show\u2019s title. Is it not somewhat a paradox that a philosopher tells us not to think? After all, is it not philosophy\u2019s main concern to attain knowledge and wisdom through thinking?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":49072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"6451,12952,29255,42898,18512,10695","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[762,3,862],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kunst-en","category-uncategorized","category-vermittlung"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49074"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49130,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49074\/revisions\/49130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-re.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}