A Grüne Sauce is the name given to various cold sauces in classical cuisine with a green color, due to a mixture of different herbs in their composition. To make a proper Grüne Sauce (green sauce) – no matter which culinary tradition you are following – you need several distinct green elements.  Consequentially, to create an exhibition worth carrying such a name, we decided to tap into the very prolific art scene of Berlin, in order to combine a quite varied and outstanding selection of artists presenting art pieces bonded with the color green, in order to create an exhibition/homage to this hue so rich of meanings, history, and values. 

Within the XIX Century – being considered one of the most pleasing colors able to create an atmosphere of serenity and calmness – green started to be largely used in architecture, linked in many of the different expressions of the Art Nouveau movement – from art to design –  while artists such as Edgar Degas, Viktor Oliva, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent Van Gogh, among others, elevated Absinthe – the bitter green spirit – and its Fée Verte as their muse. The “golden age” of green has started. But it wasn’t always an easy life, for our color!

As no other pigment in the history of art, green was considered the most poisonous. Held responsible for the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, and later accused of being the reason for Paul Cezanne’s diabetes, and Claude Monet’s blindness – among other nefarious accusations – the color green gained overall such a wicked reputation, that it risked being outcasted, and it even was for a period of time. 

What happened is that before the 16th century, green dyes were made out of fern, plantain, and buckthorn berries, but the color would rapidly fade. Synthetic green pigments and dyes were invented only in the 18th century: Scheel’s Green – a cupric hydrogen arsenide, highly toxic – was one of the most in vogue, and its successor, the Paris Green – as toxic as its forefather – was the most beloved green within the impressionism movement. It took a while to understand that the chemical composition of the color was the true responsible for the wickedness, as the first non-toxic synthetic green, the Viridian, was patented only in 1859, right in time to allow Vincent van Gogh to use it together with Prussian blue, to create the mesmerizing sky with of his notorious Café Terrace at Night.

Most prominently found in nature, the color green embodies rich foliage, lush greenery, and vast landscapes, this earthy hue is commonly associated with the various ancient cults of Mother Earth – Gaia, Ishtar, Inanna, Freya, Ostara – that had its biggest celebrations in Spring when nature seems to reborn and fresh, sparkling green covers the land once again. This could explain why in the European tradition it has been said that green symbolizes rebirth, renewal, immortality, and hope. Like in Ancient Egypt, where green was associated with the yearly flood of the Nile, so fundamental for vegetation and agriculture, and with the cult of Osiris, the god of the underworld and of rebirth.  

In Ancient Greece, instead, green and blue were sometimes considered the same color, and the same word sometimes described the color of the sea and the color of trees. Aristotle considered that green was located midway between black, symbolizing the earth, and white, symbolizing water.
The Romans as well had a greater appreciation for the color green – associating it with the cult of Venus, protector of gardens, vegetables, and vineyards – and they made a fine green earth pigment that was widely used in wall paintings.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the color of clothing showed a person’s social rank and profession: red for the nobility only, brown and gray for peasants, while green was for merchants, bankers, gentry, and their families. The Mona Lisa wears green in her portrait, as does the bride in Arnolfini’s portrait by Jan van Eyck.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, green was associated with the romantic movement in literature and art, seen as the romantic counterpoint and antagonist of the gray and black smoke spreading with the industrial revolution, and consequentially green started being used by political, and ecological movements. The instrumentalization of this affection, made Green become quite of a role player in modern society, politically, ideologically, and marketing-wise. 

All said, for this exhibition/homage we didn’t want to impose a specific interpretation of the color green on the artists involved, and yet, by embracing its qualities of the carrier of hope, of the regenerator, of wealth and luck bringer, we aim to make of this show also a /ritual, in order to wish to everybody – but particularly to the art world – a fresh, energetic, renewing Spring, changing the vibes of the past years when the time of the rebirth was signed by covid first, and the war with the energetic crisis after. We believe we have all had enough, so shine, green, shine! And bring us positivity.