Great response to Hockney: Museum Würth 2 extends the exhibition till September 3

”The visitors‘ response during the first month of exhibition was overwhelming“, C. Sylvia Weber, Executive Vice President of the Würth Group for the arts, indicates. More than 30.000 visitors have experienced the presentation of the 90 meter iPad-frieze A Year in Normandie together with 15 works by Hockney from Würth Collection and few works on loan from private collections since its opening April 3.

”David Hockney and his studio have gladly approved our extension request due to the extremely positive public feedback“, C. Sylvia Weber expresses. „Thus, we are very happy to be able to present Hockney’s impressive and luminescent oeuvre at Museum Würth 2 over the summer months.“ The exhibition „David Hockney. A Year in Normandie in Dialogue with works of the Würth Collection“ is open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with free admission.

On the Exhibition

The monumental 90-meter-long iPad frieze A Year in Normandie by the internationally renowned British landscape artist David Hockney will be seen for the first time in Germany. From April 3 to July 16, 2023 Museum Würth 2 in Künzelsau plans to present this highlight of contemporary art in dialogue with works from the Würth Collection. These are principally paintings and videos from Yorkshire, dating from various phases of the artist's career and in our collection for several decades. The exhibition conception also alludes to the long-standing contacts between Hockney, master of landscape painting, and the passionate collector Reinhold Würth. "David Hockney: A Year in Normandie in Dialogue with Works from the Würth Collection" will be on view at Museum Würth 2 in Künzelsau for the first time in Germany.

“A Year in Normandie” is composed of a series of iPad paintings which the artist created during the Covid-19 pandemic. Inspiration came from two cultural phenomena from different continents and eras: Chinese panorama scrolls, some from the 14th century, which Hockney began studying in the 1980s, and the world-famous Bayeux Tapestry. This is a 70-meter-long embroidery on a linen band that symbolizes the power struggle for the English throne, in particular the Battle of Hastings in 1066, which marked the Norman conquest of England. This historical continuum inspired the artist to adopt this extremely elongated format for his observations of his immediate environment. Painstakingly and with intense focus, Hockney studied his surroundings en plein air. Relying on his constant companion, the iPad, he translated what he saw into into an unforgettable, luminous band of color that reflects the changing seasons.

An additional, unique feature of this spectacular presentation of an iPad painting of these dimensions is the dialogue set up between the Normandy frieze and the 15 Hockney works from the Würth Collection, supplemented by a few pieces from private collections. In Künzelsau, the north of England meets the northern French region, the four large-format paintings “Three Trees near Thixtendale” depicted over the course of the seasons encountering “A Year in Normandie”.

Museum Würth 2

Embedded in the Sculpture Garden, the latest addition to the Würth Museum complex was inaugurated in 2020 as an expansion of the Carmen Würth Forum. The lucid, understated architecture by David Chipperfield Architects with its high-ceilinged naturally illuminated space, the Belvedere with its entirely glazed facade, and a cabinet designed for light-sensitive works, forms an ideal site for the presentation of major works of modern and contemporary art from the collection.

David Hockney. 
A Year in Normandie in Dialogue with works of the Würth Collection 
03.04.–03.09.2023 
daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. 
free admission 

Museum Würth 2 
Am Forumsplatz 1 
74653 Künzelsau 
www.kunst.wuerth.com  

App Würth Collection 
Instagram @Wuerth_Collection