LEBEN ZWISCHEN DEN STÜHLEN

Two central themes in Ruprecht von Kaufmann’s work form the juxtaposition in this exhibition: the inner emotional world of human beings and the relationship between humans and their surroundings. At the heart of the exhibition is the series of paintings »Between the Chairs: Decline of a Family«, in which Kaufmann, inspired by Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, translates a literary family saga onto canvas. Across three generations, the narrative unfolds around key moments in life: first love, starting a family, loss, and grief. The scenes are suggestive and incomplete, allowing viewers to emotionally interpret the stories and continue them in their imagination. The series title »Between the Chairs« is deliberately ambiguous. A yellow-upholstered chair, an heirloom, stands as a symbol of expectations, values, and traditions passed down from one generation to the next within a family. At the same time, the expression »between the chairs« refers to the artist’s role as an outsider—someone seeking a place in the undefined, where endless possibilities for creative development arise. The landscape paintings also shown are again based on personal experience, drawing on fragments of memory, imagination, and lived experience. Their main theme is the relationship between humans and nature and their environment.

Text: Buchheim Museum