Brandhorst Museum Sauerbruch Hutton

The Brandhorst Museum welcomes a collection of late 20th Century and contemporary art: the art scheme consists of a elongated building of three interconnecting volumes; its tall ‘head’ marks the southeastern corner of the Munich museum quarter. The three volumes are distinguished by claddings of different colors and hues.

Brandhorst Museum Sauerbruch Hutton

In the #MBCloseUp series, we present a work from the Brandhorst Collection in each episode, thereby providing an insight into the broad field of contemporary art. Today we take a close look at an artwork by Cy Twombly. The 12-part picture cycle Lepanto focuses on a symbolic historical event in an overwhelming color spectacle: the sea battle off Lepanto. In some of the paintings we see boat hulls from a bird’s eye view; the artist conveys the dramaturgy of the battle through his sequence of images: tense calm at the beginning, explosions of color in the center, red-colored panels at the end. As a symbol, the image cycle points beyond the historical event. Since ancient times, seafaring has been considered a metaphor for people’s journey through life and so the different moods of the paintings also represent the passage of time and the journey of life. The Lepanto cycle is exhibited in a very special place in the Brandhorst Museum.

Brandhorst Museum Sauerbruch Hutton design Gallery

Brandhorst Museum