11 November - 20 December 2025
Dieter Goltzsche, Sudden Poetry
Heute und gestern (2023) - Brush, Indian Ink, aquarelle, graphite and colour pencil - 39,5 x 56,2 cm
We are very pleased to once again present in Brussels recent works by Dieter Goltzsche, which he created over the past five years.
Broad black ink lines compete with other lines and shapes drawn in fine chalk or colour pencils. Carefully structured surfaces radiate great poetry. This also applies to the four painted clay plates created in 2010, which, in cheerful colors, display the artist’s typical lineation.
The subjects of his pictorial creations are wide-ranging: we see and experience nature and culture on equal footing alongside profane depictions of time and space. Particularly noteworthy, however, is his engagement with what he has read and the visual responses to his readings.
Apostroph (2024) - Brush, Indian ink, colour chalk - 30 x 42 cm
In the book Schwarz (Black), Dieter Goltzsche quotes the writer Fernando Pessoa:
“Nothing that’s certain binds us to ourselves,
We are who we are and it is
Something inwardly perceived, the thing we were.”
About his work, he says: "I draw to get to know myself. (...) But we take joy in the sunlight, in the rain, in the green leaf and the autumn leaf, and in the branches, which are like our veins or bones. Simply being is not easy. But that is what it is all about."
“Nothing that’s certain binds us to ourselves,
We are who we are and it is
Something inwardly perceived, the thing we were.”
About his work, he says: "I draw to get to know myself. (...) But we take joy in the sunlight, in the rain, in the green leaf and the autumn leaf, and in the branches, which are like our veins or bones. Simply being is not easy. But that is what it is all about."
Helle Magie (2023) - Brush, Indian ink, aquarelle, colour chalk - 30 x 40 cm
Simply being! As a principle of life and creative work. Goltzsche's pictorial compositions are filled with an almost floating lightness, which expresses his joy in observing and translating what he sees into ever-new abstract variations of lines and figures on paper. This approach was already present in his early works, which bear no traces of socialist realism. On the contrary, his lineatures appear spontaneous, and his works are never a realistic picture, but rather seem to follow an inner compass or a profoundly poetic system in the invention of ever-new compositions.
Matriosch (2021) - Brush, Indian ink, aquarelle, colour chalk - 51 x 38 cm
The use of geometric and abstract forms in the implementation of observations of any kind is always present throughout the entire work of the artist, almost like a game or, even better, an experiment of thought.
The colour black always plays a central role, as we can also see in the works selected for this exhibition. Dieter Goltzsche says white and black want to be in balance. For the artist, it is not about the visual effect, but about the effect of black on white: according to the artist, only black has the power to make white shine.
The colour black always plays a central role, as we can also see in the works selected for this exhibition. Dieter Goltzsche says white and black want to be in balance. For the artist, it is not about the visual effect, but about the effect of black on white: according to the artist, only black has the power to make white shine.
E.T.A. Hoffman (2019) - Reed pen, Indian ink - 52 x 38 cm
Dieter Goltzsche was born in 1934 in Dresden. After completing an apprenticeship as a textile pattern designer and patterner, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden under Theo Richter and Max Schwimmer; in 1958/59 he was a ‘Meisterschüler’ of the latter at the German Academy of Arts.
In 1980, Dieter Goltzsche started teaching at the Berlin-Weissensee Art Academy, where he held a professorship in painting and graphic arts from 1990. In 1978, he was awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize by the Academy of Arts; in 1990, he was appointed a member of the Academy. In 1998, Dieter Goltzsche received the Hannah Höch Prize from the State of Berlin and, in 2010, the Hans Theo Richter Prize from the Saxon Academy of Arts.
His works are held in numerous museums and private collections both in Germany and abroad.
In 1980, Dieter Goltzsche started teaching at the Berlin-Weissensee Art Academy, where he held a professorship in painting and graphic arts from 1990. In 1978, he was awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize by the Academy of Arts; in 1990, he was appointed a member of the Academy. In 1998, Dieter Goltzsche received the Hannah Höch Prize from the State of Berlin and, in 2010, the Hans Theo Richter Prize from the Saxon Academy of Arts.
His works are held in numerous museums and private collections both in Germany and abroad.