Georg Baselitz, the 87-year-old German artist known for large-scale paintings that grapple with the trauma of post-war Germany, has turned his attention to the world of puppetry. For the 2025 Salzburg Festival, Baselitz designed marionettes and sets for a performance of Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale), Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s wartime theatrical piece. The production, performed by the Salzburg Marionette Theater, will run from July 29th to August 3rd. Stemming from Baselitz’s longstanding interest in 20th-century music, the collaboration—his first marionette project—started in 2023. The puppets’ heads are made from crumpled metal foil, each painted a single color, while their bodies are made of cardboard. The resulting characters are aligned with the artist’s stark, expressive body of work.
This experimental production of The Soldier’s Tale marks a stylistic shift from the realism that characterizes the Salzburg Marionette Theatre’s well-known, long-running productions of The Magic Flute and The Sound of Music. The piece was composed in 1918 by Stravinsky and writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, who conceived it for a small touring troupe. The story draws from a Russian folktale in which a soldier deserts the army and trades his violin to the devil for a magic book. Baselitz told the New York Times he was drawn to the piece because it was “very humorous” and “incredibly timely.”
The play, directed by Matthias Bundschuh, features a live chamber ensemble. Following its run in Salzburg, the production will be filmed in partnership with Japanese broadcaster NHK and will tour Europe in fall 2026.
Baselitz, whose career spans six decades, is represented by Thaddeaus Ropac, White Cube, and Gagosian, and his work is in the collections of institutions including the Centre Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
