Bridget Riley: Largest retrospective of murals in Berlin

Art Calendar, 11 June 2023

Bridget Riley: Largest retrospective of murals in Berlin and first ever ceiling painting unveiled at the British School of Rome.

Bridget Riley ©Galerie Max Hetzler

Art Calendar, 11 June 2023: The most comprehensive retrospective of Bridget Riley's murals to date is on view in Berlin at Galerie Max Hetzler. On display are thirteen compositions, half of which are on loan from public collections and four of which are newly created.

The latest work by one of the world's most celebrated artists was unveiled at the British School of Rome in early May. Bridget Riley has created her first ceiling painting here. The work covers four barrel vaults of the ceiling and uses her "Egyptian palette" to offer "a view of nature at its most auspicious and serene". Since 2016, she has also endowed the Bridget-Riley Fellowship, which offers young painters the opportunity to spend six months at the BSR. Unusually, she began painting ceilings late in life.

But how was this fascinating work made? Was a scaffold made like Michelangelo's? No, because the 93-year-old artist has several international teams who assisted with this work. She already knew the building, had the measurements taken and gave precise instructions.

Bridget Riley's mural at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, currently on show in Berlin ©Galerie Max Hetzler

Berlin gallery dedicates Bridget Riley's wall artworks to the largest retrospective to date.

Among the thirteen compositions, Galerie Max Hetzler is showing a mural that Bridget Riley painted for the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. For the duration of the exhibition, the Staatsgalerie granted the Berlin gallery the right to show an "exhibition copy", as the artist has the right to show one exhibition copy at a time, alongside the original. After the end of the exhibition, however, the mural must be painted over again in the Berlin gallery. Then it may be shown at another location, but never at the same time.

"People would be very upset indeed if the real world were as dead in its appearances as they seem to expect a painting to be." Bridget Riley

According to the artist, the challenge of modern art is to "learn painting all over again and find it again for yourself". Her starting point is the many ways in which the world appears to us and the question of how seeing can be translated into painting. The artist considers "realism" to be a misunderstanding. Thus, in a 1998 conversation, she said, "People would be very upset indeed if the real world were as dead in its appearances as they seem to expect a painting to be."

In Rajasthan (Wall Painting), 2012, the mural that is otherwise in the Staatsgalerie Düsseldorf, the gaze seeks the boundary where the painting ends and the wall begins.

If you dream of a Bridget Riley artwork.

Furthermore, the Max Hetzler Galerie is showing 4 new works by Bridget Riley. They are keeping quiet about the price. But maybe they will be on display in a museum in the near future...