Gothic Modern

Gothic Modern demonstrates how artists’ recourse to art created prior to the rise of the academic tradition enabled them to forge new creative paths. In doing so, major works by modern artists created between 1875 and 1925 will be placed in direct confrontation with iconic paintings, prints, and sculptures by Old Masters. In this extraordinary juxtaposition of artistic eras, Gothic Modern reveals how modernism was less a fundamental break with the past than it was a movement in which purposeful engagement with the art of the late Middle Ages played a vital role. Unlike the nostalgic backward gaze of romanticism or the antiquarian reconstructions of historicism, perspectives that were often placed in the service of political or national self-assurance, the focus now lay squarely on art’s inherent aesthetic qualities. Modern artists drew inspiration from the expressive visual language of a style that was perceived as raw and unrefined. Increasingly, they sought to visualize inner states and to process existential crises through their work.

In predominantly religious imagery, they encountered profoundly human emotions such as love, suffering, and grief rendered in ways that provided starting points for their own artistic explorations. Further points of fascination were traditional artistic techniques such as woodcut and book art as well as stained glass and tapestrymaking, which were now rediscovered and integrated into contemporary art production.