On January 13, I spent all day at the Leipzig Museum der Bildenden Künste. I got there by 11:30 a.m. and was probably the last person to leave at 6:00 p.m. I even ate dinner there. Seeing art all day made me very happy.
Then I took a 1-hour tram ride to a sauna on the outskirts of Leipzig. I had looked forward to sweating out the rest of my cold, but it turned out that sauna does not offer bathrobes or towels for rent, and I did not bring any. A bit disappointed, I took the tram all the way back to my hotel to nurse my cold, catch up on some emails and phone calls to friends and family, and get lots of sleep.

I made this drawing in Procreate on the iPad of a Daniel Richter painting (Untitled, 2002) at the Leipzig MdbK (Leipzig Fine Art Museum). As I draw more of these copies, I feel my reverence for art dwindle from deity-like admiration to a more human appreciation. I have had a tendency to overly admire artists, and I still do, but at the same time, I remember now that they are people too, full of doubt, trying things out, and sometimes they are brilliant, sometimes full of bullshit.

Another iPad painting in Procreate: three portraits from the painting “Tafelrunde der norwegischen Künstler in Berlin” by Christian Krohg, around 1876. I added my own graphic elements to this one. I painted these portraits quite quickly, in about 8 minutes each. Click on the image to see it bigger.

The Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts at night.

The Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts during the day. What does it say about a city that has the audacity to put a 10-story translucent box filled with art in its centre? It says “we care about art and culture.” I was impressed.

The Cafe at the Leipzig Museum der bildenden Künste.

Leipzig Museum der bildenden Künste interior.

Leipzig Museum der bildenden Künste interior.

Leipzig Museum der bildenden Künste interior. Art installation by Peter Wegner is visible.

Staircase at the Leipzig Museum der bildenden Künste.

Leipzig courtyard.

Another one of those dollhouses I keep seeing in shop windows in the former East Germany areas.

A Leipzig Absinthe bar. Absinthe must be the perfect hipster drink; retro, ironic, image-oriented, potentially dead-serious, but not really.

Leipzig building entrance.
Here is an incomplete list of artists that were represented, most of these are from the former East Germany and most of them I had never heard of before but want to check them out:
Contemporary:
Matthias Weischer b. 1973
Tilo Baumgärtel
Neo Rauch
Rosa Loy
Jochen Plogsties
Christoph Ruckhäberle (his work looks a bit like the Canadian First Nations artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun)
Ben Willikens
Katharina Grosse (Richter-like)
Hartwig Ebersbach
Sighard Gille
Henriette Grahnert
Daniel Richter
David Schnell (from Bergisch Gladbach)
Martin Kobe
Falk Haberkorn
Thomas Scheibitz
Julia Schmidt
Beat Streuli (photography)
Astrid Klein (photography)
Tim Rautert
Thomas Strut (photography)
Bertram Kober
Anett Struth
Stephan Balkenhol
Andreas Slominski
Margret Hoppe
Peter Wegner (minimal colorist, reminds me of Fiene Scharp, an upcoming Berlin artist I met)
Franziska Holstein
Werner Tübke
Bernhard Heisig
Karl Kunz
Karl Hofer
Theo Balden
Gussy Hippold
Rudolf Bergander
Max Peiffer Watenphul
Fritz Winkler
Mid-19th century:
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
J.-F. Millet
Adolphe Monticelli
Louis Valtat
Arnold Böcklin
Giovanni Segantini
Leo Putz
Late-19th century:
Max Klinger
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