Work in Progress at the Landesmuseum Mainz: Friedemann Hahn meets Vincent van Gogh
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When van Gogh becomes a painterly echo
With the exhibition Work in Progress. Life for a Masterpiece, the Landesmuseum Mainz is dedicating itself to the painter Friedemann Hahn and his intensive engagement with Vincent van Gogh. From November 19, 2026, to February 21, 2027, art historical memory, cinematic myth, and contemporary painting will meet in an exhibition about artistic identity and the ongoing transformation of a masterpiece.
Van Gogh as motif, myth, and counterpart
Friedemann Hahn overpaints and dismantles van Gogh's motifs in an expressive process of abstraction. Bright colors, gestural brush movements, and fragmented image structures dissolve familiar visual signs from their original order. The observation of the works thus leads to a central question of modern painting: How does an own image emerge from the memory of already iconic art?
Color frenzy and media memory
Hahn's paintings draw not only from the repertoire of motifs of Vincent van Gogh. The artist myth surrounding the supposedly failed and socially ostracized artist also becomes material for curation. A significant role is played by the film Lust for Life from 1956 with Kirk Douglas. Self-recorded film stills from this classic have repeatedly served as a starting point for Hahn's painting.
Between tradition and own painterly identity
The exhibition makes visible how an artist works with art history through quotation, overpainting, and estrangement. Hahn's images stand between figurative memory and abstract form dissolution. Van Gogh's landscapes, figures, and signs do not appear merely as templates but as scaffolding for an independent aesthetic experience. Color thus becomes a space for thought: It changes perception, shifts meanings, and opens new perspectives on the history of painting.
Insights into the work of Friedemann Hahn
Among the works presented are Painter with Landscape and Sower, The Last Pipe, Head with Candle Hat, as well as the triptych Scene from Lust for Life. Hahn has been a professor of painting at the Mainz University of Applied Sciences for over 20 years. His artistic practice combines intensive engagement with works, media reflection, and a conscious confrontation with art historical image traditions.
Cultural education and workshops
The Landesmuseum Mainz accompanies the special exhibition with educational offerings for school classes and young visitors. In workshops, children and teenagers experiment with Hahn's techniques, alter templates through layers of color and strong contrasts, or investigate the effect of brush strokes, dots, and bright colors. For secondary level II, a 120-minute offering combines a guided tour and workshop with work on Polaroid photos and media transformation.
Conclusion: An exhibition about the becoming of art
Work in Progress. Life for a Masterpiece promises an intensive art experience between Vincent van Gogh, Friedemann Hahn, film history, and abstract painting. The exhibition shows that a masterpiece does not only work in its finished form but also in the traces of its appropriation, revision, and reinterpretation. Those who want to experience the exhibition atmosphere, color energy, and art historical references directly should definitely visit this special exhibition at the Landesmuseum Mainz live.
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