Mythos Helmut Berger in the Alte Wache Traunstein: Art and Context Experienced Anew

Mythos Helmut Berger in Traunstein: From Sketch to Image Space

An intimate sketch on a bedsheet, drawn by Helmut Berger during a spa stay in Bad Vigaun and presented to the Salzburg painter Andreas Dullnig, forms the starting point of this exhibition. At the opening on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at 7:00 PM in the Alte Wache – Town Hall Ground Floor, a multifaceted art experience unfolds between film icon and painterly transformation.

Icon of European Cinema: Context and Cultural History

Helmut Berger, Visconti's charismatic muse, shaped European cinema of the late 1960s and 1970s. His roles between narcissism, androgyny, and decadence created a visual vocabulary that still resonates today. This exhibition reflects Berger's image in the public eye and makes his pop iconography visible as a cultural cipher.

From Bedsheet to Canvas: Artistic Translations

From the fleeting felt-tip sketch, Andreas Dullnig develops mythical portraits, layered and disturbed in acrylic and oil. The painting oscillates between form and dissolution: color scraps, edges, veils. In the observation of the work, an aesthetic experience of proximity and distance emerges, interpreting rather than illustrating Berger's persona.

Space, Light, Resonance: The Exhibition Atmosphere

The Alte Wache – as a clear, ground-level exhibition space in the town hall – directs the gaze towards color, material, and image space. Daylight meets glazing layers, contours tip in side light: A concentrated atmosphere that sharpens one's own perception and initiates the dialogue between sketch, canvas, and legend.

Curating and Education: Learning to See in Context

The presentation embeds Dullnig's cycle in Berger's artistic history: from Visconti's Ludwig through The Damned to late documents of the reception history. Art historical highlights, precise wall texts, and a coherent parcours promote cultural education and invite a reflected examination of star images, masculine designs, and myth creation.

Conclusion

What can visitors expect? A condensed art experience that places icon and interpretation in a nuanced relationship: sensual in color and materiality, precise in analysis and context. Experience the exhibition live – for a sustainable aesthetic experience and a new way of seeing the myth of Helmut Berger.

Official Channels of the City of Traunstein:

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• Website: https://www.traunstein.de/

Sources:

• City of Traunstein – Alte Wache
• Wikipedia – Helmut Berger (German)
• Kronen Zeitung – 'Do something with it': Bedsheet sketch for Andreas Dullnig
• Andreas Dullnig – Exhibition 'Mythos Helmut Berger' (Mutters 2023)
• Bota Art Gallery – Artist Profile Andreas Dullnig
• meinestadt.de – Alte Wache, Town Hall Ground Floor, Address
• Event Entry – Exhibition Mythos Helmut Berger