About the Work
Beginning in 1976, the Düsseldorf artist Jörg Immendorff maintained a close friendship with the Dresden painter A. R. Penck. His favourite subject was the division of Germany, which he examined prominently from 1977 onwards in his 'Café Deutschland' series and in 1983 in the painting 'Kaltmut', now in the Städel. Here, too, he inscribes the title on the canvas. We can understand this imaginary word as an appeal for courage against the Cold War - a quality that at least the federal eagle possesses. Painted in black-red-gold and wearing a military greatcoat, it has come alive and broken through a layer of ice. In the middle of the painting, the floes of ice flying about form the outline of a reunited Germany; further up, that of the German Democratic Republic. The tip of another floe points towards Berlin, the divided city, whose Wall is the symbol for a Germany that has been torn in two. Immendorff's art remains political but distances itself from things, perhaps in order not to fall into the same trap as Beuys, whom he later reproached for having neglected art in favour of politics.
