100 paintings, objects, and films from around 40 international contemporary artists invite us to intuitively approach art from an emotional perspective.

What does art provoke in us? To what extent does our view of art depend on our personal experiences and memories? Which feelings emerge as we contemplate works of art, if our gaze is led by intuition alone?

The exhibition FEELINGS seeks to encourage this direct dialogue between artwork and viewer in order to stimulate an intense emotional engagement. The works exhibited are characterized by enigmatic motifs and atmospheric visual spaces. Joy, excitement, anger, revulsion, sadness, and numerous other emotional reactions may ensue upon viewing the works. The choice of exhibits is subjective; the art historical context and explanatory wall texts have been deliberately omitted.

When does a picture attract us, when does it repel us? The study of emotions is still a young branch of psychology, sociology, history, and neuroscience. Ever since the Enlightenment, the focus has been on humankind as primarily rational beings; their view of the world and images was dominated by intellect above all else. Today, however, it can be proven that emotions have much more influence over us than we have previously wanted to admit. It is no coincidence that politics and advertising have long—and thoroughly manipulatively—relied on using images to evoke feelings and then utilized these for their own ends. Art, on the other hand, is formed in free contexts, creates a purely personal relationship with the audience, and exists without a discernible purpose.

The exhibition is supported by PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e. V.

Curators: Bernhart Schwenk and Nicola Graef