Press release

Starting with Odilon Redon’s charcoal drawing Fleur du mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1880) in the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg, this exhibition traces a path from early modern art to contemporary works, shedding light on the influence that Charles Baudelaire’s well-known, eponymous collection of poems has had on art. Alongside presenting a selection of works directly related to the poems, such as Hannah Höch’s painting Les Fleurs du mal (1922‒24) and Albert Birkle’s work Die kleinen Alten (1923), the exhibition also addresses individual topics such as beauty and decay or artifice and nature.

Les Fleurs du mal (1857), a volume of poetry by Charles Baudelaire (1821‒1867), is a milestone of world literature. First published in Paris in 1857, it provoked a scandal that led to a trial against Baudelaire. The poems laid the foundation for a new aesthetic in literature and art, breaking away from the classical notion of unity between beauty and goodness. Concepts of excessivity, proliferation, and wild blooming play an important role. Often, goodness only begins to slip into evil because of its exaggeration. The main focuses of the exhibition explore eroticism and intoxication, the aestheticisation of disease and decay, the relationship between artifice and nature, the concept of surrogates, and even kitsch.

The exhibition presents around 120 works. In addition to paintings, drawings, and graphic art, photographs, film clips, and digital media are also on view, as are objects and installations. The show includes Otto Piene’s (1928‒2014) large-scale Fleur du mal (1969) installation: 13 giant flowers made of black artificial silk, which, from within the darkness of the Sahurê Hall, bloom every hour on the hour under the effects of stroboscopic lightning storms and deafening noise.

Kyllikki Zacharias, director of the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg, is curating the exhibition.