Charles de Gaulle

1967

Screenprint

85 x 57.5 cm (33 7/16 x 22 5/8 in.)

This three-quarter portrait of Charles de Gaulle wearing a kepi, signifying his role as a general during the war, is in bright shades of pink, blue and green.

Viennese Actionist Otto Muehl attacked the official image of rulers and royalty of the time in a series of portraits he made in the 1960s. Using the casual aesthetics of posters and silkscreen, which heralded the visual culture of 1968, he simplified and subverted the embodiment of power. Less immediately and virulently than his famous performances, these portraits call for the overturning of existing values.

In the Pinault Collection with other works by the same artist, Charles de Gaulle was presented during the major 2009 group show "Mapping the Studio" at the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi in Venice.
Exhibitions