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Mondrian painting hanging upside down for 77 years: German museum curator

A painting by Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian has been hanging upside down for 77 years, says a curator at a German museum.

Piet Mondrian's
Pictured are Piet Mondrian's "New York City" (left) and "Woods near Oele" at the "Mondrian, Evolution" exhibition in the Kunstsammlung museum in Dusseldorf on October 27, 2022. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Rolf Vennenbernd. 

A large retrospective of the avant garde artist’s work went on display Saturday at the Kunstsammlung museum in Dusseldorf, and one of the pieces on show is “New York City 1”, painted in 1941.

But as she prepared for the exhibition, curator Susanne Meyer-Buser discovered the painting had been presented to the public rather differently from how it was perhaps intended to be on show.

“In a photo from 1944, I saw that the canvas was the other way around on an easel. It intrigued me,” Meyer-Buser told German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.

The painting, consisting of several lines in blue, red and yellow intersecting at right angles, was then displayed shortly after in the wrong way at MoMA in New York, the curator said.

It was then transferred to the Dusseldorf museum in 1980 and put on show in the same way.

The error could have been made because “the painting doesn’t have a signature”, according to Meyer-Buser.

The decision to present the work in the manner it has been for decades was probably determined by “the artist’s name inscribed on the back of the frame by the administrator of the (artist’s estate)” at the time of Mondrian’s death
in 1944.

Mondrian, born in 1872, was a noted exponent of the 1920s abstract art movement known as “De Stijl” and was one of the most influential figures in modern art in the 20th century.

In 1940, he moved to New York where the skyscrapers and layout of the city would inspire his horizontal lines. He died in New York in 1944.

His most famous artwork is “Victory Boogie Woogie”, considered one of the most important artworks of the 20th century.

 

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CULTURE

Barbaras Rhabarberbar: How a German tongue-twister became an unlikely viral hit

A tongue-twisting German rap about rhubarb has become the latest unlikely musical hit to storm the internet, racking up millions of views and inspiring a viral dance routine.

Barbaras Rhabarberbar: How a German tongue-twister became an unlikely viral hit

The song by musical comedian Bodo Wartke was first posted on YouTube in December 2023, but took off earlier this year thanks to a dance video made by two Australian students.

In May, the track briefly reached number 12 in the TikTok music charts, ahead of US R&B superstar Beyonce.

The charm lies in the song’s tongue-twisting title, “Barbaras Rhabarberbar” (Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar) — a bit like the German equivalent of “She sells sea shells”.

The song tells the story of Barbara, a woman famous for her rhubarb cakes who decides to open a bar in her village.

As the song goes on, Barbara is joined by an ever-growing cast of people whose names add to the tongue-twister — such as barbarians and barbers.

Wartke, 47, teamed up with German content creator Marti Fischer to make the video, the two men taking turns at the microphone to recite the tricky lyrics.

47 million views

Wartke is delighted with the unexpected success of the song, though he admits he doesn’t actually like rhubarb very much, “except when it’s made into a crumble or jam with strawberries”.

“Even in our wildest dreams, we could never have imagined such success,” said Wartke, who has been performing as a cabaret artist in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for 27 years.

“Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar” has racked up more than 47 million views on TikTok and has been translated into several languages.

It has also inspired all manner of copycat dance videos, including underwater, on ice skates and on rollerblades.

Wartke, who performs comic songs on the piano, once wanted to be a German teacher and has a penchant for a linguistic challenge.

He has recorded several other songs based on tongue-twisters, such as “Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische” (“Fisherman Fritz catches fresh fish”).

“Until now, I always thought I was talking to a German audience. I thought you had to understand the meaning to appreciate it,” said Wartke, who grew up in northern Germany but now lives in Berlin.

“But apparently this kind of alliteration combined with hip-hop has an appeal beyond the meaning of the words,” he said.

READ ALSO: 8 German tongue-twisters to leave your mouth in knots 

Image problem 

Wartke hopes the song will do something positive for the image of the German language around the world.

“Lots of people think that Germans have no sense of humour, don’t know how to have fun and that German is an aggressive language,” he said.

“Now they’re reconsidering their prejudices, which I am delighted about. People write to me saying that our song has made them want to learn our language.”

As if to dispel any last perceptions that Germans are serious and boring, Wartke and Fischer have posted a video of themselves doing the dance, with Wartke wearing a pink suit.

“Dancing is not our speciality at all, we had to do a lot of practising,” he said.

Buoyed by their success, the duo are thinking of taking a Barbara-based comedy routine on tour to non-German-speaking countries.

“The songs would remain in German but we would present them in English,” Wartke said.

There has even been talk of the Eurovision Song Contest — and with Germany having finished in last place in 2022 and 2023, Barbara could only raise the bar.

By Céline LE PRIOUX

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