The oil painting "Don Giovanni" transforms the famous operatic subject into a color-charged, dramatic pictorial event. In glowing tones of orange, red, and yellow, numerous figures swirl around one another; at the center rises a pale, white-clad figure framed by costumed, mask-like, and almost demonic apparitions. In a powerful, gestural brushstroke, Bernhard Heisig captures the atmosphere of seduction, intoxication, and downfall.
About the Artist Bernhard Heisig
Bernhard Heisig (1925–2011) was one of the outstanding figures of the Leipzig School. His art is marked by an expressive, dynamic visual language and a passionate sense of colour that places him in the tradition of Max Beckmann, Otto Dix and Oskar Kokoschka. Again and again he wrested his pictures from himself in a restless process of overpainting that could last for years, creating haunting works that grapple above all with the horrors of war and German history. From his native Breslau, Heisig came to Leipzig in 1948, where, as long-serving rector and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, he shaped an entire generation of artists. Together with Wolfgang Mattheuer and Werner Tübke he is regarded as a founder of the Leipzig School and a formative teacher of the later New Leipzig School. His work is held in major museums and continues to command attention on the art market.
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