The exhibition brings together works by Joseph Beuys that address the Second World War and the Auschwitz concentration camp. Drawing on training documents from his time as a soldier in the Wehrmacht and documents that Beuys received in 1957 when he participated in the international competition for a memorial in Auschwitz-Birkenau - later artistically reworked by him in 1963 - the exhibition explores the aesthetic strategies Beuys employed to confront the horrors of the systematic extermination of Jews, Sinti and Roma, Communists and other groups persecuted under National Socialism. Featuring over one hundred artworks and photographs, primarily from the Museum Schloss Moyland’s collection, the exhibition provides a nuanced exploration of Beuys’s relationship to the Nazi era. It reveals that throughout his career, from the 1940s to the 1980s, Beuys consistently engaged with themes of the Second World War and, most notably, Auschwitz, expressing these profound historical traumas in a variety of artistic ways.
Curated by Alexander Grönert and Angela Steffen
Gallery
Galleria del Credito Valtellinese, Mailand (Herausgeber) Beuys a Milano, Polentransport 1981, dal Muzeum Sztuki Lodz, 1993 Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland Foto: Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland/Maurice Dorren
Joseph Beuys 2 Lampen, 1956 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025 Foto: Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland
Joseph Beuys Auschwitz, 1963 Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025 Foto: Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland/Maurice Dorren
Ute Klophaus Joseph Beuys in der Aktion „und in uns ... unter uns ... landunter“ im Rahmen des Happenings „24 Stunden“, Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal 1965 © bpk / Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland / Ute Klophaus /Leihgabe der Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung
Joseph Beuys landendes Flugzeug, 1957 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025 Foto: Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland
Joseph Beuys unbetitelt (Entwurf für Denkmal in Auschwitz-Birkenau), undatiert (1957/58) © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025 Foto: Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland/Maurice Dorren
Joseph Beuys Zwergengräber, 1953 oder 1954 (zweifach datiert) © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025 Foto: Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland