Over the past 40 years, German artist Katharina Grosse (born 1961) has won many fans for the use of an empty sprayer to produce compelling, color-saturated and immersive paintings. Many of her works are on display in museums and galleries – a 2004 piece involved spray-painting on the interior of the Museum of Contemporary Art Houston, as well as clothing, paper, eggs and coins scattered on the floor, but she also created site-specific installations for less traditional venues, including an abandoned military building in Fort York Tilden Park, New York.
This week, Grosse will undertake one of the biggest projects of her career: a huge painting that will fill Basel’s Messeplatz during the Swiss edition of Art Basel. Title choir and curated by Natalia Graboska, the project will see her spray paint the entire pedestrian area in the shade of magenta.
Artnews Talk to Grosse about the evolution of her practice and her plans for the iteration of Art Basel this year.
Artnews: You were introduced to Marseille’s spray gun. What’s tempting?
Katharina Grosse: In the 1990s, I stayed in Marseille for half a year. This is a very anarchic place, much more than it is now. I have to see people using spray guns and other tools. A few years later, I only tried the spray gun. [The people in Marseille] Think of yourself as an outsider. The atmosphere there must have changed my painting method.
Katharina Grosse, Déplacer les étoiles2024.
Photos Jens Ziehe/Centre Pompidou – Metz; gagosian; Galerie Max Hetzler; and Galerie Nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder/©2025 Adagp, Paris
Edvard Munch used spray equipment in the 1890s for testing. Is he one of your inspirations?
I don’t have this reference, no. But I’ve always been attracted to Munch’s work, especially because he did unusual things with his paintings, took them out of the stretcher and hung them in the snow. His outdoor studio fascinated me. His work hasn’t started and I can relate to it, because for me, painted images are not limited to canvas. I went to Norway around 1985 to see where Monk lived and what he drew inspiration from. I am currently preparing for a show that will open in 2026 at the Monk Museum in Oslo.
How did your technology develop since the corner of the Kunsthalle Bern gallery you sprayed and then realize paintings that “can cross architectural structures and boundaries”?
Untitled [a 1998 work that involved spraying acrylic paint directly onto the corner between two walls and a ceiling at the Kunsthalle Bern] It was a critical moment in my career. It made me understand the independence of painting, which did not have to obey the rules of space. It’s almost like a swing, flickering external agent that shows possibilities we’ve never seen before, complicating them more, and then suddenly, wear out and disappear. Another turning point for me is bedroom. In 2004, I painted in my bedroom, including personal belongings – books, bed sheets, works I made in the past, and furniture. It is not a loss, it is a transformation. This gives me another idea of my life. Now, when I was invited to paint in public, I draw inspiration from this experience. I think this is a crossover. I put a painted image (a proposition I imagined, part of it) except for what everyone knows.
Katharina Grosse, Rockway2016.
Photo Pablo Enriquez/©2025 VG Bild-kunst/Provided MOMA PS1
The same crossover will happen in Messeplatz, which Art Basel commissions you to fully draw before the fair begins.
This is the first time the painter has been invited to take over the 53,800 square foot Messeplatz. That part of the challenge was that I had to reach this scale. My movement determines how this place is perceived. The spray gun will help me expand my influence. With this tool, I can paint endlessly. Then I will cross the entire square – on the water, on the water on the roof, on the roof at the entrance.
Fair people are short-lived. Once they enter Messeplatz, they will be part of the job. I really want to create a picture that is almost like the threshold between reality and novel. Here is a membrane: you can walk through it, go out at any time, or stay in it as you wish.
How will you do it?
I want to make a painting of viscera and make your system so fast that you don’t have to think about it. In that prospect, I’m working on photos, floor plans, models of all sizes, but keeping the vision in mind. [The idea] It popped up immediately – not always.
The square is protected by a very thin layer of asphalt that will be stripped and recycled once the expo is over. I don’t usually paint on black, so we have to create a white structure for me to paint. I chose two magenta tones for their high vision. This is the color lifeguard uses now instead of orange.
What do you think about your work?
I like the idea that once Art Basel is over, my work will disappear in seven days. You can’t buy it, you can’t own it. It violates the reality of the fair, which is mainly about trading. This moment is beautiful.
Katharina Grosse, Not us2020.
Photos Jens Ziehe/offesy König Galerie, Gagosian, Galerie Nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Staatliche Museen Zu Zu Berlin, National Galerie/©20255
Your exhibition at Deichtorhallen Hamburg features installed and selected studio paintings as well as drawings and sketchbooks. What will work indoors bring to you? vice versa?
Working outdoors is almost like swimming in the sea. Indoors, it’s like swimming in a swimming pool. There are two different ways to do it, however, you are still in the water. In my studio, I can work on 20 to 30 pieces at the same time. Then, my color method is more experimental. Otherwise, I would use it to an area of escape tags, definitions and descriptions to feel the direct resonance with the space I am connecting to.
You are known for embracing the events and events that come to you when you work. What kind of events may occur during the creative process?
I don’t expect anything, that’s the point. In my experience, I started with what I envisioned to understand the space and atmosphere of working with me, but I still know a lot of things that could affect my work – wind, weather, my team. After a while, you become part of the painting, which makes it easier to adapt and find solutions. You resonate like an organism with everyone you work with and everyone you work with.
