BRUSSELS.- Maruani Mercier announced the representation of the Estate of Hermann Nitsch. The gallery’s relationship with Nitsch’s work has developed over a number of years, including two major surveys of his practice. One of the most important artists of the post-war period, Nitsch was a central figure in Viennese Actionism in the 1960s, developing a radical interdisciplinary practice that spanned painting, performance, music and theatre. Emerging in the charged cultural landscape of post-war Austria, his work confronted conventional social structures through its intense physicality and vigour. Drawing on the Wagnerian idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, Nitsch sought to create works capable of engaging the full range of human experience. This ambition found its fullest expression in the Orgien Mysterien Theater (Orgies Mysteries Theatre), his lifelong project in which painting, music and action were brought together as a total work of art, dissolving established distinctions between artwork, performer and audience.
Nitsch’s radical approach to painting was inseparable from the physical act of its creation. His paintings were both the origin and result of his performances, carrying their intensity onto the canvas. Working with both oil and acrylic, he applied paint using unconventional tools as well as his hands, feet and entire body. Through these actions, Nitsch expressed an energetic, spiritual and deeply passionate vision that ultimately reflected a celebration of life and an exploration of the human soul.
Nitsch’s work has been the subject of major museum exhibitions and retrospectives throughout his career, including at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1983); Stdtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1988); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Cologne (1992); Nationalgalerie Berlin/Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2006); Leopold Museum, Vienna (2011); Albertina Museum, Vienna (2019); and Muse de l’Orangerie, Paris (2023). His work is permanently represented at the Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach and Museo Hermann Nitsch in Naples. Nitsch is represented in major international public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.
Nitsch’s work has been the subject of major museum exhibitions and retrospectives throughout his career, including at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1983); Stdtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1988); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Cologne (1992); Nationalgalerie Berlin/Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2006); Leopold Museum, Vienna (2011); Albertina Museum, Vienna (2019); and Muse de l’Orangerie, Paris (2023). His work is permanently represented at the Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach and Museo Hermann Nitsch in Naples. Nitsch is represented in major international public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.
