TILBURG.- This autumn, De Pont Museum presents Sigmar Polke – The Knowledge of Colours, the first major exhibition in the Netherlands of Sigmar Polke (Oels, 1941 – Cologne, 2010) since his retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in 1992. Developed in collaboration with the Anna Polke Foundation, the exhibition brings together more than fifty works from the 1980s to the late 2000s, focusing on Polke’s experimental approach to colour, pigment and unconventional painting materials. Alongside ensembles from the ‘Collectie Nederland’ (the joint Dutch museum collections), brought together for the first time, the exhibition includes important loans from private and museum collections in Germany, France and the United Kingdom, among others.
Athanor and the alchemy of materials
The works in the exhibition mark a crucial turning point in Polke’s oeuvre. Of particular importance was the journey that took him in 1980/81 to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia. The experiences of this journey transformed his understanding of colour and of the contexts in which colour acquires meaning. This shift became visible in 1986 at the Venice Biennale, where Polke presented his Golden Lion-winning installation Athanor in the German Pavilion. With this installation, named after the alchemical furnace, he quite literally transformed the pavilion into a ‘stove’ in which image processes unfolded as material reactions between the painterly surface and its environment. At the centre of the installation was a wall painting that actively responded to the weather: in conditions of high humidity it turned pink, while in dry conditions it became blue.
The works from this period and beyond are characterised by the pouring, sprinkling, blowing and spreading of lacquers, pigments and resins on transparent or semi-transparent supports, fabrics and canvases. They range from fully abstract Farbproben (colour experiments), monochrome Farbtafeln (colour panels) and lacquer and pour paintings to works with recognisable figuration and forms. These derive from historical visual sources, including references to art and cultural history, as seen in the four-part work Hermes Trismegistos.
In this phase, the emphasis shifts from the hand of the artist to the behaviour of the materials themselves, which, even after being applied to the canvas, continue to act to a certain degree and seem to take on a life of their own. Their interactions and historical resonances reveal connections between cultural, natural and art history. In the abstract colour compositions and painterly details, it becomes clear how Polke fundamentally questions the seemingly fixed canon of painting. By freely experimenting with supports and pigments, and by actively engaging space, transparency and light in the formation of the image, a practice unfolds in which painting continually redefines itself.
‘Collectie Nederland’ brought together for the first time
For the first time, the most important ensembles of Polke’s work from Dutch museum collections are brought together within this experimental perspective. The exhibition demonstrates the richness and complexity of the ‘Collectie Nederland’ centred on a single artist. Among the works presented are the eight-part series Farbtafeln(1986/87 and 1992) and Radioaktiver Abfall (1992) from the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, shown alongside the monumental Werkgruppe I: Das war schon immer so!, Werkgruppe II: Das haben wir noch nie so gemacht! and Werkgruppe III: Da knnte ja jeder kommen! (1982) from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Goldklumpen (1982) from the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and the four-part series Hermes Trismegistos I–IV (1995) from the collection of De Pont Museum in Tilburg.
Important loans
In addition to works from Dutch museums, the exhibition features significant loans from, among others, Museum Abteiberg, Mnchengladbach; Museum Brandhorst, Munich; Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden; Carr d’Art – Muse d’art contemporain de Nmes; Museum fr Gegenwartskunst, Siegen; Kunstmuseum Karlsruhe; the Hesta Collection, Uster; the Cranford Collection, London; and various private collections. Many of these works are on view in the Netherlands for the first time.
International research and education project
The exhibition forms part of the international research and education project Sigmar Polke: Athanor NOW, initiated by the Anna Polke Foundation. Forty years after Polke’s presentation at the Venice Biennale, this pivotal phase in his work is being revisited through exhibitions, presentations, research, workshops and lectures. The exhibition Sigmar Polke – The Knowledge of Colours at De Pont Museum constitutes the central and most extensive element of this programme.
Sigmar Polke – The Knowledge of Colours is a joint exhibition by De Pont Museum and Anna Polke Foundation. Curators: Kathrin Barutzki (Anna Polke Foundation), Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen and Maria Schnyder (De Pont Museum).
This exhibition is part of the project Sigmar Polke: Athanor NOW, organized by the Anna Polke Foundation and financially supported by the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, Zurich.
Together with presentations by Matthew Monahan and Wagner & De Burca, Sigmar Polke – The Knowledge of Colours marks the conclusion of Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen’s tenure as Director of De Pont Museum on 1 October 2026.
