Baselitz, whose real name was Hans-Georg Kern, began studying at the East Berlin University of Fine and Applied Arts in 1956. There he met Peter Graf and Ralf Winkler (A.R. Penck). After two semesters he was expelled on the grounds of "sociopolitical immaturity." Baselitz moved to West Berlin and continued his studies there at the University of Fine Arts until 1964. He met Eugen Schönebeck and Benjamin Katz. Among other things, he learned a style of modern expressionism from Hann Trier, a representative of action painting. The focus is on the artist's action as spontaneous writing or by spraying, pouring or dripping paint. In 1958 he made his first independent pictures and drawings. In 1961 he adopted the stage name Baselitz. In 1960 he dealt with the topic of anamorphosis and the art of the mentally ill. In the same year he traveled to Paris. Together with the painter Eugen Schönebeck, Georg Baselitz had his first exhibition in West Berlin in 1961.

With Schönebeck, he also committed himself to distancing himself from contemporary trends in art in the "Pandämonic Writings". In 1962/1963 he created his picture "The Big Night in the Bucket", whose depiction of a boy masturbating became famous. The first etchings were made in 1964. A year later he turned to Mannerism. In 1966 he made his first woodcuts. In 1969 the first picture was taken in which the motif "upside down" was taken. A later example of this is the picture title "Brückechor" (1983) with three figures in an expressive manner. Since then, Baselitz has painted exclusively in this representation. For the artist it expresses the independence of art from reality and thus a different approach to it. Baselitz became successful with his style of painting. His works have been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Los Angeles Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1971 Baselitz moved to Forst an der Weinstrasse. The following year he started finger painting.

In 1975 he moved to Derneburg Castle near Hildesheim. From 1976 to 1981 he ran another studio in Florence. In 1977, Baselitz took over a professorship at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts. In the same year he revoked a contribution to "documenta 6" because official representatives of GDR art also took part there. In 1979 he dedicated himself to working with sculptures. In 1980, Baselitz designed the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale. From 1983 to 1988 and from 1992 he taught in Berlin at the University of the Arts. From 1983 to 1984 the artist worked on religious painting. In 1993 he created the stage design for the performance of the Dutch opera "Punch and Judy" in Amsterdam. His sexual images are intended as provocation. His works also include monumental paintings in an abstract style. Baselitz became a versatile artist who experimented and worked with different materials and techniques.

Since the 1900s, he has been using a chainsaw to create his figures, which resemble tribal art from Africa. His style was strongly influenced by German Expressionism. In 2004, Baselitz was awarded the Praemium Imperiale of the Japan Art Association and appointed honorary professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti Florence. In 2006 he sold Derneburg Castle to the American art collector Andrew J. Hall and moved to Buch, a district of Inning am Ammersee in Upper Bavaria. In 2012 he received the Chevalier de la Légion d''Honneur. In 2013 he settled in Salzburg. In 2019, Baselitz became a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts.

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