Sigmar Polke at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice

Nearly 90 works from the Pinault Collection, as well as loans from major public and private collections, are on display. The exhibition also marks the 10th anniversary of the reopening of Palazzo Grassi.

The exhibition follows a reverse chronological order and opens in the atrium with Axial Age, the artist’s last important pictorial cycle, created between 2005 and 2007. The show spans Polke’s entire career, from the 1960s to 2000s, and underlines the variety of his techniques.

In terms of content, the alchemical and the political are interwoven through continuous references to contemporary and ancient history. By bringing together the abstract and the figurative, past and present, the creativity of Sigmar Polke shapes an idiosyncratic, wide-ranging and manifold world.

The exhibition was conceived by Elena Geuna and Guy Tosatto, Director of the Musée de Grenoble, in collaboration with The Estate of Sigmar Polke.