Joseph Beuys, action artist, sculptor, art theorist and educator, controversial throughout his life, and provocative in the best sense of the word, wanted to move others and to be moved. The emotional and physical vulnerability of human beings was his theme. It is no coincidence that one of his most famous installations bears the title "Zeige deine Wunde" ("Show Your Wound"). Beuys, today regarded worldwide as one of the most important artists of the 20th century, had a deep interest in mythology, shamanism, anthroposophy, alchemy and mysticism. Above all, however, he was a "wounded healer" in the sense of C. G. Jung, who wanted to expand our consciousness, increasingly reduced to economic goals and rational efficiency, through his works. As in the ancient myths, Beuys operated with images and symbols, which for him were important sources for the development of our stunted imagination. His famous phrase, "Every man is an artist," meant that creative forces reside in each of us, and these forces constitute the very core of our being.
The portrait of an artist who in all his art and with his whole being questioned the existing social system.
Joseph Beuys, action artist, sculptor, art theorist and educator, controversial throughout his life, and provocative in the best sense of the word, wanted to move others and to be moved. The emotional and physical vulnerability of human beings was his theme. It is no coincidence that one of his most famous installations bears the title "Zeige deine Wunde" ("Show Your Wound").
Beuys, today regarded worldwide as one of the most important artists of the 20th century, had a deep interest in mythology, shamanism, anthroposophy, alchemy and mysticism. Above all, however, he was a "wounded healer" in the sense of C. G. Jung, who wanted to expand our consciousness, increasingly reduced to economic goals and rational efficiency, through his works.
As in the ancient myths, Beuys operated with images and symbols, which for him were important sources for the development of our stunted imagination. His famous phrase, "Every man is an artist," meant that creative forces reside in each of us, and these forces constitute the very core of our being.