On the Sound of Images

07/06/2025 - 20/09/2026

The points of intersection between the visual arts and music in the 20th century extend far beyond the fragmentation of instruments in Cubism or the portrayal of musicians and composers. Instead, both art forms enrich and inspire each other in a dynamic interplay.

Notably, at the beginning of the century, the development of abstraction sparked a fruitful dialogue between the two arts: the liberation from representational subjects enabled visual art to translate musical structures, compositional principles, rhythmic movements, or sonic forms into visual expression. Artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, František Kupka, and Robert Delaunay recognized that colors - like tones - possess their own sound quality, which, with its immense power, evokes emotions.

This dialogical interaction continues into the second half of the 20th century, and especially in non-representational painting, analogies between concepts such as composition, rhythm, repetition, contrast, harmony, hue, or the timbre of color can still be established. Furthermore, the breaking down of genre boundaries in Fluxus and Pop Art has led to experimental and innovative approaches.
Featuring works by, among others, René Acht, Mary Bauermeister, Erich Buchholz, John Cage, Jo Delahaut, Robert Delaunay, Rudolf Jahns, Mauricio Kagel, Wassily Kandinsky, František Kupka, Verena Loewensberg, August Macke, Otto Nemitz, Carsten Nicolai, Bridget Riley, Niki de Saint Phalle, Giorgio Severini, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Timm Ulrichs.

Curator: Julia Nebenführ