Giulia Andreani. Sabotage

In February 2026, painter Giulia Andreani opens the exhibition programme marking the 30th anniversary of Hamburger Bahnhof, presenting paintings that expose fractures within official histories. Andreani’s artistic practice of “painting with photographs” thrives on the tension between authoritarian figures and forgotten characters of the past. The starting point for the figurative, monochromatic paintings whose Payne’s gray tones recall historical photographs is found in family albums or archives. Her images reveal hidden narratives, address collective forgetting, and open up new layers of meaning for the present. Andreani’s anniversary contribution reinterprets historical collections through a contemporary lens: The exhibition architecture refers to Sigmar Polke’s 1997 exhibition The Three Lies of Painting at Hamburger Bahnhof, and her paintings are shown together with works from the Antikensammlung, the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Museum of European Cultures, and the Kupferstichkabinett.