Untitled

In 1988, Polke embarked on a series of twenty-two paintings that critiqued the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Martin Hentschel writes, "In 1988 the whole of France was joining in the general jubilation on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution that had established bourgeois principles on the basis of social 'reason.' Polke created a cycle of pessimistic pictures in response to this" (M. Hentschel, "On Sigmar Polke's Work," Sigmar Polke: The Three Lies of Paiting, exh. cat., Bonn and Berlin, 1997, p. 83).