JOURNAL
EXHIBITION QUEERE MODERNE DÜSSELDORF
Queer Modernism. 1900–1950
Queer Modernism. 1900–1950 at Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf is the first exhibition in Europe to explore the groundbreaking yet long-overlooked contribution of queer artists to modernism.
Bringing together more than 40 artists from Eastern and Western Europe, North and Latin America, the exhibition examines how gender and sexuality shaped artistic styles, movements and programmes. Desire, individual experience, self-representation and social history emerge as central themes in their work, revealing alternative ways of imagining identity and life beyond dominant social norms.
Many of these artists have been marginalised in established narratives of modern art or dismissed as anti-modern. Others are presented here for the first time through the lens of queer aesthetics. The exhibition is the result of years of research and expands our understanding of modernism by bringing forgotten and renowned artists into a new dialogue.
At the same time, Queer Modernism. 1900–1950 tells a broader story of queer life during a period marked by war, persecution and resistance.
Image © Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen