
Georg Baselitz paints his motifs upside-down in order to drain them of meaning and focus our attention on their form. Inverted, this eagle loses any associations with, say, German nationalism, or freedom. Despite the upper marks implying movement, the imposing bird is locked in place, in air devoid of gravity. Baselitz carved his massive woodcuts on his hands and knees, in a studio in the medieval castle in Lower Saxony where he lived.