Look, the Eyes
Eyes gaze at us from images, and we gaze back. What are the eyes in the drawings, paintings, photographs, and films looking for? Are they compelled by a vague longing, or are we, the observers, the ones being looked at?
Lucian Freud, Head of a Woman, 1988–1990, MGKSiegen, The Lambrecht-Schadeberg Collection, © The Estate of Lucian Freud Bridgeman Images
Seeing and being seen are reciprocal. When we see something, we are also looked at and touched. The eyes play a key part when it comes to generating and questioning emotions, power relations and social constructs because things are ordered and fixed in the gaze. In a world that is largely centred on the sense of sight, as well as in artistic practice, seeing takes centre stage as a matter of course. Because things are organised and fixed in the gaze. Something shows itself and simultaneously withdraws, so that what is seen and visible also creates a trace of the absent and invisible.
The exhibition with works from both the Lambrecht-Schadeberg Collection and the Contemporary Art Collection invites visitors to explore seeing and the gaze itself – with all its facets and across all media. The selection includes works by artists such as Francis Bacon, John Baldessari, Miriam Cahn, Christian Falsnaes, Lucian Freud, Bernhard Fuchs, Maria Lassnig, Isaac Julien, Sigmar Polke or August Sander.
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