88 - MORITZ GÖTZE

MORITZ GÖTZE (1964 Halle (Saale), based there) Est ce un Tableau?, 1998 Oil on canvas. 120 x 160 cm. Signed and dated in the center right, and signed, dated, and inscribed “painted in Mecklenburg” on the reverse. Götze is a well-known contemporary German artist renowned for his colorful and detailed works. He developed his style as a self-taught artist and was active in the subculture of the GDR in the 1980s. His vibrant paintings, influenced by Pop Art and comics, draw on motifs from German history, often using the technique of enamel painting. “Est-ce un Tableau?” presents itself as a meta-painterly statement: The question, written in handwritten script (“Is this a painting?”), playfully subverts the traditional concept of a painting and makes a tongue-in-cheek reference to René Magritte’s famous phrase—here, however, not as a negation but as an open self-questioning. At the center stands a stylized male figure holding aloft a laurel or olive branch—a symbol of victory and peace. His contoured body is, as is typical of Götze, surrounded by a bright yellow aura that both highlights the protagonist and is formally reminiscent of comic book panels.