This painting was made in 1989, when Katharina Grosse was a student at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. At that time, she was fascinated by the idea of creating a kind of "painting without painting." But on the surface, the work shown here still looks like a normal painting. It is an abstract painting in oils on a piece of canvas with clearly defined edges and borders.
But even here, we can see the young artist thinking about paint as a medium, how colours can flow and overlap, how effects of depth and surface are created. Although the painting doesn't go beyond the limits of the canvas, the semi-transparent colours make it look 3D. The artist is still exploring layering, building a foundation for her characteristic use of overlapping colour and a spray technique. The composition has an open, dynamic feel, almost as if it is about to leap beyond the edges of the canvas. This is similar to the way in which the edges of paintings appear to dissolve in Katharina Grosse's later work.
Take a closer look at the other works in this room. They were all painted between 1989 and 1990, and at this stage, they still clearly have separate areas of colour. At this time, she was trying out different consistencies, overlapping colours and unusual techniques. Have you seen the mint-green painting? The paint has been put on thickly with a palette knife to make circular patterns that show different layers of paint. This was probably done using a glazing technique, which requires you to apply multiple layers of paint. The result is a light, almost ethereal effect. Another painting combines freely floating, coloured shapes with deliberately placed spaces. We see something similar in Katharina Grosse's later, large-scale wall-mounted works.
Stay in this room to find out about the next part of the tour.