14.08.2024 – 06.01.2025
The exhibition shows the predominant theme of Alfred Kubin’s life and work – a view of the world of evil; the aesthetic of evil proves to be his counter-design to the idyll, the conscious fading out of an abominable reality. Kubin’s deeply pessimistic attitude led him to explore almost exclusively the darker sides of the human psyche in his drawings. Defenceless, he finds himself confronted with uncanny dream phenomena and a pronounced fear of the feminine, sexuality, night and being at the mercy of fate. Trapped in his dark visions, evil is inexhaustible for him and determines his life.
The fact that Alfred Kubin is still as relevant today as ever is demonstrated by many of his highly topical pictorial themes: War games, prisoners, torture, executioners, displaced persons, the persecuted, epidemics and pandemics. Many of his works revolve around the uncanny, nightmares of demons, eerie hybrid creatures, grotesques, angels of death and scenes from hell, about what lurks on “the other side”. Alfred Kubin pursues these visions in a breathtaking way, making him one of the most outstanding drawing artists of the 20th century.
The exhibition has been compiled from the Albertina’s large collection of around 1800 drawings by the artist.
Alfred Kubin – Aesthetics of Evil
14.08.2024 – 06.01.2025
Albertina
Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna
www.albertina.at
