Brixy at the Orangerie Schwetzingen

Blue in Contemporary Art Kunstverein Schwetzingen Group Exhibition at the Orangerie, Schwetzingen Palace 5 June to 5 July 2026

The colour blue is one of the most multifaceted means of expression in art. It stands for depth and vastness, for sky and water, for calm, longing, memory and intellectual openness. In the group exhibition “Blue in Contemporary Art”, Kunstverein Schwetzingen is dedicated to this particular colour and its various manifestations in contemporary art.

Dietmar Brixy is represented in the exhibition with two paintings that trace an intriguing arc within his artistic oeuvre: “Blauer Schneckenengel” from 1998 and a large-format painting from the current “Wanderlust” series from 2025.

Blauer Schneckenengel

Blauer Schneckenengel, 1998, oil on canvas, 180 x 240 cm

In “Blauer Schneckenengel” from 1998, blue appears as a moving, vibrating element. Broad brushstrokes sweep through the pictorial space like currents of water, wind and light. From within them emerge shadowy figures that shift between body, sign and apparition. They recall angels, winged beings, snail-like forms and organic ciphers without ever allowing themselves to be clearly defined.

The black, spiral-shaped lines function like a second, calligraphic layer. They refer to snail shells, vortices and inner patterns of movement, giving the work a rhythmic structure. The result is a charged pictorial space between protection and vulnerability, slowness and dynamism, figuration and dissolution. Here, blue becomes the bearer of an expressive, almost physical energy.

Wanderlust

Wanderlust, 2025, oil on canvas, 100 x 450 cm

The painting  “Wanderlust”, by contrast, opens blue into vastness. Horizontal pictorial layers, impasto formations and atmospheric transitions create a landscape that does not appear as a specific place, but rather as an inner space of experience. Here, blue becomes the bearer of depth, movement and longing. It connects the external idea of landscape with a state of being on the move.

The broad, panoramic pictorial space reinforces this sense of distance and openness. Mountain-like formations, flowing zones of colour and luminous transitions between dark blue, turquoise and bright accents create a landscape between day and night, proximity and distance, reality and imagination. The colour blue does not appear static, but atmospheric: it carries the gaze through the image and makes the landscape tangible as a mutable space. In this way, “Wanderlust” becomes a painting about movement, orientation and the longing for an open horizon.

It is precisely in the interplay between these two works that the many facets of blue in Brixy’s painting become visible: as gesture, space, mood and painterly force. Between early expression and current artistic development, a dialogue emerges in which the colour blue can be experienced not only as the theme of the exhibition, but also as a connecting element within Brixy’s artistic language.

  Orangerie Schwetzingen

Orangerie Schwetzingen

Exhibition period : 5.06.-05.07.2026

Opening : 5.06.2026,  6.30 pm

Adress: Schloss Mittelbau, 68723 Schwetzingen, Neue Orangerie

Website: https://kunstverein-schwetzingen.de