Here at the Ernst Wilhelm Nay Plaque we honor a remarkable artist. Ernst Wilhelm Nay was one of the most important German painters of the 20th century. He significantly shaped post-war art.
Born in Berlin in 1902 Ernst Wilhelm Nay showed early artistic talent. He initially taught himself drawing and painting. In 1925 Ernst Wilhelm Nay entered the Berlin Art Academy. There he became a master student of Expressionist painter Carl Hofer.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s early work showed great promise. In 1927 the Provinzial Museum Hannover acquired some of his works. This was while Ernst Wilhelm Nay was still a student. The Nationalgalerie Berlin acquired two paintings a few years later. After leaving the Academy in 1928 Ernst Wilhelm Nay began exhibiting throughout Germany. He traveled to Paris and Italy.
However these successes were short-lived. The National Socialists attacked Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s paintings. They called them masterpieces of ugliness. The Nazis confiscated his works from state museums. In 1937 they included Ernst Wilhelm Nay in their Degenerate Art exhibition.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay briefly left Germany. Thanks to Edvard Munch’s generosity he traveled and painted in Norway. Beginning in 1940 Ernst Wilhelm Nay served in the army as a cartographer. He traveled in Southern France Brittany and Le Mans. Despite military service Ernst Wilhelm Nay continued to paint. He arranged an exhibition of his wartime works in Munich in 1943. He befriended Kandinsky and other Parisian avant-garde artists.
Released from the army in 1945 Ernst Wilhelm Nay resumed his art. He exhibited his work with commercial and critical success. Ernst Wilhelm Nay first participated in the Venice Biennale in 1948. He represented Germany there in 1956. In 1950 the Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover organized his first retrospective exhibition. His first solo exhibition in America took place in 1955 in New York City.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay participated in documenta in 1955 1959 and 1964. From the 1960s his work was shown extensively outside Europe. He continued to exhibit internationally until his death in Cologne in 1968.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s art evolved significantly. His early works showed Expressionist influences. Later he embraced color and abstraction. His development moved from expressive realism to complete abstraction. Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s late period represents the pinnacle of his artistic achievement.
His first breakthrough came in 1937. He created the Fischer- und Lofotenbilder. These pictures focused on fishermen and the Lofoten Islands landscape. They combined his early works with the expressive potential of color. The Lofoten Paintings were Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s first attempt to explore a motif serially. Color and serial organization became central to his art.
In the 1950s Ernst Wilhelm Nay had his second major breakthrough. Inspired by synesthesia he approached color as form. These Rhythmic Paintings brought Ernst Wilhelm Nay into abstraction. He continued this exploration in works with circular color planes. These evolved into the Eye Paintings of 1963 and 1964. Their forms suggested eyes emerging from the picture plane.
The paintings of 1965 marked Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s third breakthrough. He rigorously simplified form and palette. His works often used a few clear intense colors spread over large areas. These paintings culminated decades of experimentation. Ernst Wilhelm Nay developed a unique style. He imbued abstract content with deep conceptual and expressive meaning.
Remember Ernst Wilhelm Nay as you explore Berlin. He left a lasting legacy in German and international art. His innovative use of color and form continues to inspire.