Palimpsest I

My painting entitled “Palimpsest” refers to the medieval practice of scratching off old scriptures on parchment for getting space for new writings, whereby you sometimes could still discover traces of the underlaying old letters. In the case of my work you may discover remnants of tissue structures covered with gold, coming from a former collage, beneath the red dutch pouring painting. This refers to the complexity of the historic background of the different nations who gathered together in the european hymn, based on Friedrich Schiller's "Ode an die Freude" in Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th symphony. This painting has been shown in an exhibition in honour of the 250th birthday of the composer in 2020 in the gothic church "Spitalskirche" of Perchtoldsdorf near Vienna.