WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Günter Brus

Günter Brus

Günter Brus

Artist

WA-00026416

PaintingConceptual ArtPerformance Art

Representation

None documented

5

Institutional Exhibitions

74

Works in Collection

126

Assets Indexed

0

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ677218 ULAN500098254

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Europe, America: A Selection from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

No image

Contemporary Print Acquisitions, 1986�1988

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

No image

Contemporary Art in Context

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

No image

For 25 Years: Crown Point Press

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1987–1988

No image

BERLINART 1961�1987

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1987

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/833
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Günter Brus was an Austrian artist and pioneer of action art and body performance in the 1960s. Working across drawing, painting, and live performance, he used his own body as both subject and material, creating visceral works that rejected conventional gallery spaces and institutional constraints. His early gestural paintings evolved into increasingly radical performance interventions that addressed bodily autonomy, social taboos, and the limits of acceptable artistic expression. Based in Vienna, Brus remained a foundational figure in European performance and conceptual art through subsequent decades of drawing, writing, and installation work.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Conceptual Art

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Tate

Canonical record

Artworks (74)

2003 · Felt-tip pen and colored pencil on colored paper

11 1/2 x 8" (29.2 x 20.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the Museum in Progress project TransAct: Transnational Activities in the Cultural Field

2000 · Lithograph, offset printed

sheet: 18 1/2 x 12 3/8" (47 x 31.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 8) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 5/8 x 10 1/8" (21.9 x 25.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 18) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 9/16 x 10 1/8" (21.8 x 25.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Title plate from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 5/8 x 10 1/4" (21.9 x 26 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 4) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 9/16 x 10 1/8" (21.8 x 25.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 16) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 9/16 x 10 1/8" (21.8 x 25.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 12) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 9/16 x 10 1/8" (21.8 x 25.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 10) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 5/8 x 10 1/4" (21.9 x 26 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Naturschauplätze

1989 · 9 etching and drypoints

page 14 3/16 x 14 13/16" (36 x 37.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 14) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 9/16 x 10 1/8" (21.8 x 25.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Plate (folio 6) from NATURSCHAUPLÄTZE

plate 8 9/16 x 10 1/8" (21.8 x 25.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

[no title]

1985 · Drypoint and etching on paper

image: 445 x 309 mm

[no title]

1985 · Drypoint and etching on paper

image: 435 x 305 mm

[no title]

1985 · Drypoint and etching on paper

image: 469 x 295 mm

[no title]

1985 · Drypoint and etching on paper

image: 430 x 295 mm

[no title]

1985 · Drypoint and etching on paper

image: 429 x 296 mm

Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

1985 · Portfolio of five drypoint and photogravures

each approx. sheet 22 1/4 x 15 3/4" (56 x 40 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

1985 · One from a portfolio of five drypoint and photogravures

plate: 18 5/8 x 8 7/16" (47.3 x 21.5cm); sheet: 22 1/16 x 15 7/8" (56 x 40.3cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

1985 · One from a portfolio of five drypoint and photogravures

plate: 17 1/8 x 12 1/16" (43.5 x 30.6cm); sheet: 22 1/16 x 15 3/4" (56 x 40cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

1985 · One from a portfolio of five drypoint and photogravures

plate: 17 1/16 x 11 13/16" (43.4 x 30cm); sheet: 22 1/16 x 15 3/4" (56 x 40cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

1985 · One from a portfolio of five drypoint and photogravures

plate: 17 11/16 x 12 5/16" (44.9 x 31.2cm); sheet: 22 1/16 x 15 3/4" (56 x 40cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

Untitled from Depth Obscured (Vertiefung Mit Bewölkung)

1985 · One from a portfolio of five drypoint and photogravures

plate: 17 x 11 5/8" (43.2 x 29.5cm); sheet: 22 1/16 x 15 11/16" (56 x 39.9cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Charm - Flower - Ring

Charm - Flower - Ring

1984 · Graphite, ink and watercolour on paper

support: 577 x 402 mm

View all 74 artworks →

Artwork sources (3)

74 published of 123 catalogued · 67 with image

MoMA
49 publishedof 98 catalogued46 img
Tate
21 published21 img
The Met
4 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 10)

10 entries · 1 sources

Crystals of Standstill
1983 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Run-through of an Action
1966 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Charm - Flower - Ring
1984 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
[no title]
1985 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
[no title]
1985 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Great Fear of the Earth II
1982 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
[no title]
1982 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Untitled
1960 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
[no title]
1982 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
[no title]
1982 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Ruins of Frauenstein (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Ruins of Frauenstein (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

5

Movements2

Conceptual Art Performance Art

Collections3

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Tate

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Tate