Homage to Mozart

Snapshot

On Ursulinenplatz at the foot of the Mönchsberg, a bronze figure stands on a stone pedestal facing the facade of St. Mark’s Church. This is Markus Lüpertz’s “Homage to Mozart,” the fourth piece in the Salzburg Foundation’s Walk of Modern Art, installed in 2005. It is not a comfortable statue.

The Story

Salzburg has no shortage of Mozart monuments. What Lüpertz made is different. The figure is 2.95 metres of bronze cast in a rough, almost unfinished texture: Mozart’s wigged bust sits atop a female torso, one arm missing entirely. The gender ambivalence is deliberate. The missing limb echoes the unfinished symphonies. Lüpertz, a painter-sculptor who led the Düsseldorf Art Academy, was not interested in producing a portrait of a famous person. He was interested in what genius looks like from the inside.

The Salzburg Foundation commissioned the work as part of a programme that ran from 2002 to 2019, placing international contemporary art in the open spaces of the city. The placement at Ursulinenplatz, away from Getreidegasse and the Altstadt’s tourist circuit, reflects that philosophy. The square sits at the foot of the Mönchsberg, close to the old Neutor tunnel, on the left bank. Visitors who find it are usually looking for something.

The polychrome surface, painterly in the way Lüpertz’s sculpture often is, has attracted controversy. In one incident the figure was vandalized with tar and feathers, requiring a careful restoration that stripped the tar without damaging the bronze. The piece was repainted and is maintained periodically. The fact that it provokes enough feeling to be attacked is, arguably, part of what makes it good.

Visiting

Ursulinenplatz, left bank, at the foot of the Mönchsberg. Always accessible, free. Five minutes to view. Walk west from Getreidegasse along Griesgasse, then continue past the Rathaus toward Ursulinengasse. Can be combined with the Neutor and a walk up to the Mönchsberg.