Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys: The works are usually unconventional in nature: they often create a strong opinion in the viewer. Beuys' avant-garde work is often described as strongly conceptual: for him, the effective communication of his ideas was more important than the personal manual elaboration of his works of art. The elaboration could also be done by technicians and craftsmen, for example. He made a total of more than 15,000 works. When asked, Beuys mentioned his 'Social Sculpture' as his most important work of art. This is a radical art theory in which every person can participate and is responsible for the quality of the society in which he lives. In collaboration with Klaus Staeck, he published graphic editions such as lithographs, posters, books, videos and series of art postcards, including cards made of wood and felt. In museums he made installations and displayed personal objects in display cases. Some of his sculptures were made of bronze. Examples of well-known works by Joseph Beuys are: How to explain paintings to a dead hare (1965), an action with a dead hare in the Schmela gallery in Düsseldorf; 'Felt suit' (1970), a suit consisting of trousers and a jacket made of felt; 'I love America and America loves me' (1974), a performance in which he had himself locked up in a cage with a coyote in a New York gallery for five days; and the sculptures called 'fat corner' (Fettecke): fat masses that were placed in the corner of a room, on a chair or in a cardboard box. A very important work in Beuys' oeuvre is the installation "Voglie vedere i miei montagne" in the collection of the Van Abbemuseum. The title refers to the words spoken by the 19th century painter Giovanni Segantini on his deathbed: 'Voglio vedere le mie montagne' ("I want to see my mountains").