Armin Mueller-Stahl holds onto his passion for acting in an exhibition of his art work! Frances learns the actor through his art.

If you are unfamiliar with Armin Mueller-Stahl then Unter den Linden is certainly a good place to get to know him at the moment. The famous actor revealed his talent for art in 2000 and now the VW Automobilforum have put together an extensive collection of his works. Paintings and drawings of landscapes, people and scenes come together in what is a bit of an overwhelming exhibition.

Art of Acting 

What stood out was the actor’s strong connection with the stage in his art. Paintings on scripts and of great writers like Thomas Mann and Heinrich Heine reveal the artist’s love of acting. A prominent part of the exhibition featured illustrations of scenes from written works and having recently worked my way throughGoethe’s Faust, I found the scenes from “Urfaust” particularly interesting. His connection with his times is also predominant. Armin Mueller-Stahl lived in a turbulent time and captures this in his paintings. One that sticks in my mind is “Auszug aus der DDR” which documents his extraction from East Germany. The uncertainty and unpredictability of life ahead is so simply captured in a fog!

Armin Mueller-Stahl in action!

Actor unmasked

An Actor has many faces. Armin Mueller Stahl has even captured himself in some of his masks in his art. “Selbst als Thomas Mann” for example is a self-portrait of himself acting the part of Mann. Art is very revealing of a person and these many faces are stripped away so you can see the person as well as the actor and not just in his other self-portraits of Armin Mueller-Stahl as himself. Unlike his career his art was private and not designed to be exhibited so it feels very genuine.

Unter den ground level

As a gallery space it didn’t feel quite right but that’s because its not primarily a gallery space. Down an escalator below ground level was the exhibition. Lack of natural lighting and people milling about above me reminded me of a shopping centre. The building had a very constructed feel while the paintings and drawings were much more natural and personal than their surroundings. However the location on Unter den Linden is pretty incredible and it is such a vast exhibition that I think you would struggle to place it anywhere else!

• VW Automobilforum “Armin Mueller-Stahl” March 9th – May 1st 2012, Mon – Sun: 10am – 8pm

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Painting by Catrin Walz Stein

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