Exhibition of the Kunstverein Schwetzingen in the Orangery of Schwetzingen Palace
300 years of Carl-Theodor

Contemporary artists
commemorate the
300th birthday of
Elector Carl-Theodor.
The exhibition is curated by Dr. Dietmar Schuth.

June 7 – July 7, 2024

Our Berlin artist Anna Lena Straube and Potsdam artist Stefan Pietryga will be taking part!

This year, Elector Carl-Theodor would have celebrated his 300th birthday. He is regarded as a good regent and sovereign who ruled the Palatinate and Bavaria for 50 years and stayed out of all wars. His palaces, especially his summer residence in Schwetzingen, made him immortal. He was a lover of the muses and a great patron of the arts in the spirit of the Enlightenment and for this reason alone deserves to be honored, which the Kunstverein Schwetzingen is striving to do with its exhibition.
If you look at his portraits, you will recognize a stately appearance in splendid robes or shining armour, with the insignia of power as well as props of his artistic interests. He was certainly no beauty and was portrayed with a belly and double chin as he grew older. Of course, this was in keeping with the ideal of beauty in the 18th century.
What would, what could a Carl-Theodor look like today? This is the question that the Kunstverein poses and passes on to the artists of our time. How are men portrayed today who have to bear and represent responsibility, who must assert their power, their wealth and their authority?