The German-British artist Michael Anthony Müller (born 1970) takes visitors with an expansive installation, drawings, paintings, and a sculpture into the mythological world of Ancient Greece. By means of painting, but while also going beyond its boundaries, Müller presents a multi-faceted artistic reflection on the meaning of time, mortality, and love that endures outside time. In the process, he weighs up the potential of abstraction and asks the crucial question: Can an abstract artwork tell a story?
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All information regarding opening hours, ticket prices and many other helpful tips around your visit to the Städel Museum can be found here. Tickets are available in our online shop and at the ticket counter.
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Please note:
Due to the event CLUB DIVINE the exhibition “Michael Müller: The Given Day. Castor & Polydeuces” will not be accessible from 3 to 5 February.
In addition, the Contemporary Art Collection (Garden Halls) and the exhibition “Michael Müller: The Given Day. Castor & Polydeuces” (Metzler Foyer) will only be accessible until 4 pm on 1 March.
We kindly ask for your understanding.
The piece “The Given Day” (2021–2022), based on the Ancient Greek myth of the Dioscuri, the twins Castor and Polydeuces, form the heart of the exhibition. In battle, the inseparable brothers are divided by the death of Castor, a mortal. Zeus grants the two brothers a shared life – a life between the worlds. Henceforth the brothers alternate between a day spent in Hades, the realm of the dead, and a day on Olympus amongst the gods. A prologue consisting of Müller’s drawings and a sculpture interacts with works on paper from the Städel Museum collection to familiarize visitors with the myth. With his site-specific piece “The Given Day”, Müller also has different concepts of time enter into dialogue: Firstly, there is the physical notion of time, which allows for a subdivision of time segments into objective units; secondly, there is human-existential time, which evades such a strict subdivision. The work measures a total of 6 × 65 metres and is made up of 24 large-format canvases. They symbolize the 24 hours of the day, and Müller painted each exclusively at the hour of the day for which the respective canvas stands. The exhibition culminates in the garden halls, where Müller presents further groups of works and quite literally accompanies the visitors into the “underworld”.
Curator: Svenja Grosser (Deputy Director, Collection of Contemporary Art, Städel Museum)
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz
The Given Day (detail), 2021–2022
Acrylic, gesso and lacquer on printed Belgian linen
© Studio Michael Müller
The Given Day. Kastor & Polydeuces
Courtesy Studio Michael Müller, Berlin
© Photo art/beats, Robert Schittko
The Given Day (detail), 2021–2022
Acrylic, gesso and lacquer on printed Belgian linen
© Studio Michael Müller
The Given Day (detail), 2021–2022
Acrylic, gesso and lacquer on printed Belgian linen
© Studio Michael Müller
Courtesy Studio Michael Müller, Berlin
© Photo art/beats, Robert Schittko
The Given Day (detail), 2021–2022
Acrylic, gesso and lacquer on printed Belgian linen
© Studio Michael Müller
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