Heiner Friedrich, legendary patron of the arts and founder of the DASMAXIMUM museum in Traunreut, turns 85.
DASMAXIMUM celebrates this occasion with an anniversary weekend on April 15 and 16, 2023. With free
Admission awaits visitors in addition to the permanent exhibition with highlights of the
international contemporary art an extensive supporting program.
Special program and opening of the new Arnulf Rainer exhibition
The highlight is the opening of a cabinet exhibition of the Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer on Sunday, April 16 at 2 pm. Rainer, born in Baden near Vienna in 1929, is not only one of his country's best-known artists, but counts
also one of the most influential painters and draftsmen of the present day. He gained fame especially through
his overpaintings, which he established as a new art form.
As with all the artists shown at DASMAXIMUM, Heiner Friedrich shares with Arnulf Rainer a
decades of support for his work. In 1976, before Rainer's participation in documenta6 in
Kassel gained international attention, his first exhibition was held in the rooms of the newly
founded edition of the gallery Heiner Friedrich took place. Other exhibitions and significant
Graphic editions, supervised by Six Friedrich and Sabine Knust, were to follow. From 1992 Heiner Friedrich prepared
together with Maria Zerres and Franz Dahlem in numerous studio visits Arnulf Rainer's exhibition in
of the Menil Collection, Houston, followed by the establishment of the Arnulf Rainer Museum in New York in 1993-.
1995 by the Ayn Foundation, which Friedrich founded. In 2015, the Foundation opened its new
location in Mana Contemporary, New Jersey, with an extensive exhibition of Rainer's work, which has since become
can be seen.
For a long time Heiner Friedrich has had the wish to show Arnulf Rainer also in his museum in Traunreut.
On the initiative of the Board of Trustees of the DASMAXIMUM Foundation, the 85th anniversary is now celebrated in a new
exhibition space created for the first time in Traunreut as a "birthday surprise" an intimate insight into
the work of Rainer will be on view: In the "Street Robbers" from 1979-1980, Rainer combines his exploration
the expressiveness of human facial expressions with the technique of overpainting. In several steps
reworked Rainer with oil paint and oil pastels caricatures of poets from the mid-19th century
and thus drastically exaggerates the expressiveness of the expression. Examples of his finger painting are also to be
like a death mask overpainting and a cross characteristic for Rainer. Curated was the
Exhibition by Maria Zerres. The presentation is the prelude to a loose series in which previously not
The exhibition will be supplemented by a presentation of the collection's holdings.
The exhibition is on view from Sunday, April 16. Prof. Dr. Bernhart Schwenk, Head of the Art Collection
of the Present at the Pinakothek der Moderne Munich will give an introduction to the exhibition at 2 pm.
give. The exhibition will be open for one year during the general opening hours of the museum.
Heiner Friedrich in his adopted country New York, photo: Franz Kimmel 2015
Already on Saturday 15 April there will be a guided tour at 2 p.m. on "Heiner Friedrich and the Museum
DASMAXIMUM" takes place: What began in the 1960s at the Friedrich + Dahlem Gallery in Munich has its
Over the decades, Heiner Friedrich has become one of the most important pioneers in the field.
and patrons of artists who are now part of the canon of art history and eventually led to the
Foundation of the museum DASMAXIMUM in Traunreut.
Program for the 85th birthday of Heiner Friedrich:
Saturday and Sunday, April 15 and 16
The museum is open from 12-18, free admission
Saturday, April 15, 2 pm
Guided tour "Heiner Friedrich and the museum DASMAXIMUM" (registration at mail@dasmaximum.com is requested)
Sunday, April 16, 2 pm
Introduction to the Arnulf Rainer exhibition by Prof. Dr. Bernhart Schwenk, Head of the Art Collection
of the present at the Pinakothek der Moderne Munich.
The exhibition is open on Sunday from 12-18.
