Untitled (from the series Hand-Painted Pictures)

Two twisted, partially reddened hands, as if bloody, are on the surface of an immaculate canvas. They extend from a nude male torso with unfinished features standing out against a purple background. The colours of the incomplete subject's clothing blend into the background.

Martin Kippenberger’s paintings are incisive, uncompromising, frenetic and brilliant. Over several years, he also made a series of paintings and drawings in various formats and on various supports (even hotel stationery) reproducing the same composition of inhabited hands with astonishing attention to detail.

Untitled (from the Series Hand-Painted Pictures) was presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the 2009 "Mapping the Studio" show at the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi in Venice.