At the Küppersmühle Museum, the summer kicked off with an exciting discussion on the validity of Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s concept of beauty. Moderated by Kay Heymer, painter Jerry Zeniuk, art historians Siegfried Gohr and Eva Müller-Remmert and plastic surgeon Stein Tveten discussed the enduring fascination with beauty in painting and in life and the complexity of our current ideas about it. Many artists also took part in the lively discussion: Tatjana Valsang, Hubert Kiecol, Christiane Kailing, David Czupryn, Chris Succo, Horst Gläsker, Cornelius Völker and Gereon Krebber as well as aesthetics professor Bazon Brock contributed to making the evening unforgettable with their contributions.

The discussion between artists, art theorists and the plastic surgeon gave rise to interesting food for thought thanks to the different points of view. For example, it has been shown that since ancient times, physicality has set the standards for judging beauty, both in art and in life. The fact that completely abstract, informal works of art are also regarded as beautiful and can even trigger a feeling of emotion in the viewer is, however, a novelty of the 20th century and thus builds a bridge to E.W. Nay and the expanding, but in any case changing, concept of beauty of our time.