I am/you are. Images of humanity
With her portraits, Paula Modersohn-Becker showed people in a new way. Her images of people turn ideals of beauty on their head. Rather than rendering the sitter in faithful, perhaps even idealised detail, they capture their essence. They reduce people to the essential and surprise with their psychological depth.
This approach was a completely new departure for portrait painting. For this reason, the Barkenhoff places Paula Modersohn-Becker’s Girl with a Pearl Necklace at the centre of the exhibition and, taking it as a starting point, explores the development of portraiture over more than a century. By juxtaposing historical and contemporary works, the exhibition shows how our view of the human being is changing, and what role the spirit of the age, individuality and self-presentation play in this.
And who are you? Visitors can show themselves on @ichbin_dubist.menschenbilder. The most popular pictures will be exhibited. Join in here:
www.instagram.com/ichbin_dubist.menschenbilder
Images:
- Paula Modersohn-Becker, Mieke Vogeler with a Pearl Necklace, 1902 , oil on canvas, Heinrich Vogeler Foundation Haus im Schluh Worpswede, Photo: © Haus im Schluh Lubricht
- Anneliese Kretschmer, Portrait of Three Children from Worpswede, 1937
- Wiebke Mertens, Blush, 2024, oil on canvas, Landkreis Osterholz / long-term loan to the Kulturstiftung Landkreis Osterholz, Große Kunstschau Worpswede, Photo: © Wiebke Mertens
