Lot 535 D

“Jörg Immendorff's pictures are full of symbols. In order to understand his paintings and sculptures, knowledge of the most important signs is necessary. Many of them, such as fire, torch, candle or vehicle, reveal themselves directly. They stand for life, immortality, emotion, illumination, death or destruction. Others, such as pillars, pedestal, cross or ladder, can be interpreted in context […]
Probably the most important animal in Immendorff's pictorial world is the monkey […]. Immendorff has expressed many times how the monkey was his alter ego: a symbol for the ambivalence of the artist's existence between conviction and self-doubt. He is foolish and wise at the same time and represents contradiction. ''The monkey appears sitting on my back, and the picture I am painting is in front of me, which he attacks and then paints something else, or paints me''. The monkey is an intelligent animal in Immendorff's pictorial language. He is always on the artist's back, occasionally guiding the brush to shake him up again so that he cannot surrender to any routine.” (Tayfun Belgin, Jörg Immendorff, Weltdinge, in: Andreas Hoffer (Hg.) Jörg Immendorff, Was uns Malerei bedeuten kann, exhib.cat. Essl Museum Klosterneuburg, Vienna 2008, p. 56/57).