Norbert Tadeusz (1940-2011), one of the most important representatives of German Expressionism after 1945, came from a family of Polish emigrants living in Germany. His painting compositions often depicted the interiors of artists' studios, as exemplified by a two-sided work painted on a door, which is in the collection of the New Pinakothek in Munich. Carefully arranged frames of everyday objects, with bold colours and textures, provided a pretext for the reinterpretation of space, treated since the Romantic era as an independent work of art.

Joseph Beuys and artistic education

Tadeusz's double-sided painting was created in 1964 during the artist's studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf. On one side of the door Tadeusz painted the creative space of his teacher at the time, Joseph Beuys (1921-1986). Beuys was one of the most important post-war German artists who explored issues of memory and the reworking of the past in his art. In his practice and theory, he emphasised the importance of art in the educational process. His famous claim "Everyone is an artist" called for a creative and responsible existence, and his theory of society as a sculpture in a constant process of transformation that can be shaped through creative action offered hope for overcoming the crisis of values after the Second World War and the spiritual rebirth of society. Beuys' reflections found fertile ground in German-speaking countries, also influencing Taddeus' pedagogical practice, who taught at a number of renowned German art academies, including Düsseldorf, Karlsruhe, Berlin and Braunschweig, among others.

How do you explain paintings to a dead hare?

Beuys' studio, as captured by Tadeusz's brush, is seemingly disorderly. In a space whose entrance is defended by boards, one can see a fragment of a hare's carcass and felt - objects that would soon be identified with Beuys' art in connection with the performance "How to explain paintings to a dead hare?". On 26 November 1965, Beuys will explain paintings to a dead animal in the empty space of Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf, isolated from the audience. The artist will cover his face with liquid honey and flakes of gold to emphasise the value of the intellectual process as an act that can change the world. He will attach a piece of iron to one shoe and felt to the other, in order to control the sound of the shoe's impact. Beuys's circumambulation of the gallery with a hare on his shoulder will bring interpreters back to the shamanic practice of carrying a sick person or an attempt to establish fraternity with a totemic animal. Using symbols of animals, substances, rituals and death, Beuys will aim to move away from history and touch upon the most archaic memory, based on simple images. With his actions to 'return to the origins' through anamnesis (recollection), he will seek to master the impact of the past on the present and renew the spirituality of his audience.

Blinky Palermo's automatism?

On the back of the door with the painting of Beuys' studio is an image of Tadeusz's friend from his student days, the painter Blinky Palermo (1943-1977). Depicted with his back to a Fipper slot machine, Palermo created monochrome, abstract compositions with colourful accents. Through Beuys, he became interested in the relationship between colour and form, and began to move away from working on canvas and experiment with constructivist principles of order, which may have been the inspiration for Tadeusz's compositions on boards. Tadeusz's juxtaposition of images of Palermo's and Beuys's 'creative spaces' on one surface can be seen as an attempt to reflect on the spaces he observed during his studies or as an expression of reflection on the process of creating works of art.