The Cosmos of Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner is one of the most influential and controversial reformers of the 20th century. In the large special exhibition “The Cosmos of Rudolf Steiner,” the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart presented a comprehensive view of Steiner’s cultural and art-historical impact.

Rudolf Steiner – Alchemy of the Everyday

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) founded the anthroposophical movement, initiated the Waldorf schools, promoted alternative medicine, argued for sustainable farming, designed exceptional pieces of furniture, and coined a building style that anticipates contemporary architecture. With historical documents, furniture, films, and architectural models from Steiner’s time the exhibition part designed by the Vitra Design Museum showed how deeply Steiner’s approach is rooted and that we find his holistic way of thinking in many areas of society today. The majority of loaned objects came from the Rudolf Steiner Archive and the art collection of the Goetheanum, which provided essential research assistance in preparations for the exhibition.

Rudolf Steiner and Contemporary Art

Rudolf Steiner, an artist himself, impacted artists who were his contemporaries such as Vasily Kandinsky, and his influence can still be felt today: For example, Joseph Beuys studied Steiner’s writings very thoroughly, and we likewise find references to Steiner’s ideas in the work of many recent artists. These contemporary artists do not, however, see themselves as followers of Steiner’s teachings; instead their works are rather to be comprehended as reactions to a globalized, highly technological, and specialized world. This part of the exhibition, developed together with the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, showed works by the contemporary artists Jan Albers, Joseph Beuys, Tony Cragg, Olafur Eliasson, Helmut Federle, Manuel Graf, Katharina Grosse, Anish Kapoor, Kalin Lindena, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Carsten Nicolai, Giuseppe Penone, Bernd Ribbeck and Claudia Wieser.