We will be hosting an exhibition on 16 September 2022 with a selection of works by the artist Franz Göttlicher on the topic of transgenerational trauma.

As we can only accommodate a limited number of guests, we kindly ask you to RSVP as early as possible, latest by 10 September 2022, to km@wagner-arbitration.

*** Further details are available here. ***

About the exhibition

The trauma of war and violence is passed on to following generations. The artist Franz Ulrich Göttlicher captures these lasting effects of war and, in particular, of the Nazi era on canvas. Twenty years ago, Göttlicher created expressive large-scale paintings of irritating ambivalence depicting feelings of heroic masculinity, political power and martial strength. Göttlicher felt a need to paint this “transgenerational trauma” (Gefühlserbschaften)”, as Sigmund Freud first called it, to “paint it off of his chest and soul”.

Many years later, he began painting animals and nature. This work radiates peace and simple beauty – a stark contrast to the rough and violent atmosphere of his political paintings.

The exhibition hosted by WAGNER Arbitration showcases the work of these very different creative phases side by side. The current war in Ukraine confronts us with the tension between peace and seeming idyll in Western Europe and war and violence in our immediate neighbourhood.

How do we handle this tension and the foreseeable consequences of war that will affect generations to come?

Franz Ulrich Göttlicher’s paintings show that war not only traumatizes those involved and directly affected. It leaves deep psychological scars for future generations.