Georg Baselitz (born January 23, 1938) is a German painter who studied in the former East Germany, before moving to what was then the country of West Germany. Baselitz's style is interpreted by the Northern American as Neo-Expressionist, but from a European perspective, it is more seen as Post-Modern. His speciality is to paint his subjects the other way around to free the subject from its content. His career was kick-started in the 1960s after police action against one of his paintings, a self-portrait (Die große Nacht im Eimer) that depicted an underaged boy masturbating.
Baselitz is one of the world's best-selling living artists. He is a professor at the renowned Hochschule der Künste in Berlin.
