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Sigmar Polke
Palmen (Palm Trees), 1968

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Palmen (Palm Trees)
Artist name
Sigmar Polke
Date created
1968
Classification
painting
Medium
acrylic on mattress ticking
Dimensions
51 1/4 in. × 43 3/8 in. (130.18 cm × 110.17 cm)
Date acquired
1998
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Fractional purchase and bequest of Phyllis C. Wattis
Copyright
© Estate of Sigmar Polke / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/98.816
Artwork status
On view on floor 6 as part of German Art After 1960

Audio Stories

Why did Polke paint palm trees?

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transcripts

NARRATOR:  

The palm trees here, filtered through a dot screen, are from Polke’s earliest period. He and fellow painter Gerhard Richter responded to American Pop Art with a style they dubbed “Capitalist Realism.”  

In a divided Germany still recovering from an unspeakable war, they drew the subjects and visual texture of their paintings from advertisements and media circulars that echoed America’s promise of salvation through consumer goods. That said, these paradisical palms represent a utopian counterpoint to the grimness of everyday German life. 

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Other Works by Sigmar Polke

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