Elective Affinities

How can different portraits be connected? How can they communicate with each other? Which positions reinforce each other in their attraction? And which contradict each other? Curated by Denise Wendel-Poray and Huber Klocker, the exhibition Elective Affinities poses these questions through a selection of portraits by a group of innovative, technically brilliant artists. The title is borrowed from Goethe’s 1809 novel, which also features a series of portraits—of individuals brought together through divergent forms of attraction. The question of determinacy and choice in the artistic process is a compelling one that the exhibition at Sammlung Friedrichshof explores.