Since antiquity, the detailed reproduction of nature has been one of the key concerns of the craft of painting. In the art of the 20th century, no other movement pursued this rivalry with reality as programmatically as American Photorealism. As a reaction to Abstract Expressionism, artists such as Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings or Ron Kleemann returned to figurative painting, seeking to compete with the medium of photography in its precision and pictorial prowess. Banal motifs from everyday American life became the trademarks of these highly ambitious artists, who located the power of images not in the subject itself, but in its astonishingly illusionistic reproduction. The exhibition explores the evolution of the movement, at times also referred to as Hyperrealism, from the 1960s through to the present day, bringing together well over 90 carefully selected masterpieces.

The numerous international lenders include the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Works by more than 30 artists are on display, including paintings by John Baeder, Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Roberto Bernardi, Tom Blackwell, Robert Cottingham, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ben Johnson, Ralph Goings, Richard McLean, Malcolm Morley, Ron Kleemann, Karin Kneffel, Gerhard Richter, Raphaella Spence, and Craig Wylie.

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