“I saw the Isenheim Altarpiece twice, an enormous work of unheard-of boldness and freedom beyond all composition or construction and inexplicably mysterious in its contexts,” wrote Otto Dix to his wife Martha on September 9, 1945. This letter can be seen with more than 100 works by the painter at the Museum Unterlinden. Paintings, drawings, prints and archive material from all over the world, including loans from major public collections such as the Musée national d’art moderne in Paris, the MoMA in New York and the Vatican Museums.
The Isenheim Altarpiece, created by Matthias Grünewald in the 16th century, has inspired many artists such as Böcklin, Klee, Baselitz and Picasso since its rediscovery in the late 19th century. However, Dix referred to the Isenheim Altarpiece throughout his work, emphasizes curator Frédérique Goerig-Hergott.
Restored highlight
One of the highlights of the exhibition is the triptych “Madonna in front of barbed wire” from the Maria Frieden church in Berlin-Mariendorf, which is rarely lent out and has been restored by the museum’s conservators. It is the last triptych painted by Dix in 1945 and was intended for the Catholic chapel of the prison camp where Dix was sent shortly before the end of the Second World War. It shows the Virgin and Child as well as St. Paul and St. Peter in front of a crowd of prisoners of war and a landscape of houses destroyed by the war. “The most important part of the restoration was to check the adhesion of the paint layer and to locate any areas at risk of flaking. We also carried out a light cleaning of the paint layer, which meant minimal intervention in the paint substance,” explains restorer Carole Juillet. The wooden panels are in excellent condition and have been primed with gesso to prevent the wood from warping.
Examination of the painting revealed three different overpaintings. The oldest overpainting can be found in the area of the sky and the clouds in the middle panel. The overpaintings on the panel with St. Peter in the area of his cloak and in the area of Mary’s dress could be by Dix himself. The technique in oil/tempera is similar to that of the entire triptych. Juillet continues: “We have benefited greatly from this loan, as it is always interesting to be able to study an artist’s painting technique at close quarters and thus contribute a piece of the mosaic to Otto Dix research.”
Interested parties can view the restored painting with its overpaintings and its reference to Grünewald in the exhibition “Otto Dix – Isenheim Altarpiece” until January 30, 2017.
