In collaboration with Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, the Gemäldegalerie is showing an intervention in the Rembrandt room by the artist Lee Ufan.

Born in 1936 in what is today South Korea, this Minimalist artist is considered an important proponent of global post-war art. He has penned philosophical texts influenced by his study of both Eastern and Western currents of thought, and in his artworks, he regularly makes reference to European sources of inspiration, and has engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the paintings of Rembrandt van Rijn.

Since 1968, Lee’s sculptures have all borne the same title: Relatum (Latin for “relation”). In varying configurations, the artist seeks to establish encounters and connections, primarily through the way that he combines different materials. In the sculpture presented in the Rembrandt room, titled Relatum – The Position 1, Lee juxtaposes the industrially produced material of steel with the natural qualities of stone. In doing so, Lee creates a tension between the materials, the void that surrounds them, the space they inhabit, and the viewers. In the Gemäldegalerie, Lee’s sculpture thus enters into a complex dialogue with the surrounding works by Rembrandt and his students.

Meanwhile, over at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait with a Velvet Beret (1634), an outstanding work from the Berlin Rembrandt collection, is currently on display as part of the exhibition Lee Ufan.