The Bavarian State Painting Collections have supported and promoted the work of Georg Baselitz for over 50 years. In 1972, the artist’s first work, "Seeschwalbe" (1971/1972), was acquired. An intensive collaboration developed from then on: Baselitz maintained close contact with the curators and directors, visited the Pinakotheken regularly and played an active role in the installation of his works. The collection now comprises 31 works that bring to life his outstanding oeuvre from the early 1960s to the present day – including a work from 2017.

One highlight is the 2019 donation of six paintings and a sculpture dating from 2008 to 2017 in honour of H.R.H. Duke Franz of Bavaria. It reflects a bond that has grown over decades between the internationally renowned artist and one of his earliest collectors and longtime companions. Thanks to Prince Franz’s visionary collecting, important works were secured as early as the 1970s, when Baselitz was still at the beginning of his career. The solo exhibition held in 1976 of the artist, who was not yet forty at the time, and sponsored by the Galerie-Verein, was also a significant event: it marked an active shift towards contemporary art within the Bavarian State Painting Collections. Prince Franz of Bavaria supported this exhibition as well as a contemporary-oriented acquisition policy. The works by Georg Baselitz that entered the State Painting Collections in 1984 through the Wittelsbach Ausgleichsfonds (Compensation Fund) are among the most important of his oeuvre – a prime example being "Der Mann am Baum" (1969).

Thanks to the generous support of PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne, the Theo Wormland Foundation, the Michael & Eleonore Stoffel Foundation and Georg Baselitz himself, further works have been added to the collection. Since 2009, the Baselitz works from the Udo and Anette Brandhorst Foundation have also enriched the Munich collection. His graphic works are extensively represented in the Staatlichen Graphischen Sammlung Munich. 

Over generations of curators and directors, the Modern Art Collection has continuously expanded its holdings and followed Baselitz’s artistic development. Particular mention must be made of the trusting collaboration with Carla Schulz-Hoffmann, who, from 1975 to 2011 – initially as a curator, then as head of the Pinakothek der Moderne and deputy director general – played a decisive role in shaping this part of the collection. In 2019, a publication on the museum's collection of works by Georg Baselitz was released, containing an extensive text about this lifelong artistic accompaniment and providing a clear overview of his work. 

The collection of Baselitz’s works in the Bavarian State Painting Collections ranges from early pieces alluding to the post-war period right through to the ‘Remix’ series. The artist exhibited these reinterpretations of his signature works in 2006 in an exhibition conceived specifically for the Pinakothek der Moderne. In the paintings of his late period, the increasingly dematerialised body appears to float in a timeless and boundless space. In 2003, Baselitz also presented his collection of African art at the Alte Pinakothek, which he visited regularly. Significant works from this collection can now be seen at the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Georg Baselitz leaves behind an oeuvre of world-class significance. His paintings and sculptures endure as a challenge: unsettling, powerful, and uncompromising.

The Pinakotheken will remember Georg Baselitz with deep gratitude.