On the basis of some 180 works from the years 1917 to 2000, the exhibition not only shows the diversity of photographic portraits of artists, it also reviews the art and art history of the last century. Famous but little-known photographers, including Berenice Abbott, Brassaï, Henri-Cartier Bresson, Helga Fietz and Jérôme Schlomoff, are represented with iconic portraits by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Marina Abramović , The works are from the Angelika Platen collection.
The term "artist" is often associated with genius, ingenuity and freedom of design, while Carl Gustav Jung defines the term "complex" as a fabric of feelings, thoughts and memories grouped around a significant context in the psyche that determines thought and action , The exhibition combines both concepts and examines the artist as a figurative phenomenon composed of certain ideas and motifs - exemplified in the photographic portrait.