Group 2
Skip to main content
Search the collection
Moderna Museet
Advanced Search
Search the collection
Advanced Search
Proceed to modernamuseet.searrow
The State Hospital
© Edward Kienholz
The State Hospital
The State Hospital
Photo: Albin Dahlström/Moderna Museet

The State Hospital

by Edward Kienholz
Artist (USA, 1927 - 1994)
Alternate Title
  • Mentalsjukhuset
Date1966
MediumVarious material
Dimensions245 x 360 x 295 cm
Classification
Countries
Credit LineInköp 1971
Object NumberNMSK 2094
The artwork is not on display
About the artworkLocked up, lethargic and isolated from the world. Like a freeze-framed scene from a play, the two figures lie huddled in the spartan hospital bunk bed. The stale smell is also part of the work. Edward Kienholz had worked for a short period in a mental institution and seen the unglamorous, shabby world within the asylum walls. The State Hospital criticises society and is a troubling work intended to engage the viewer. The installation, or "tableau" as the artist called his staged environments, contrasts sharply with the 1960s consumer society that is otherwise reflected in the shiny, anonymous surface of pop art. The era of pop art comprises many disparate expressions. Selected exhibition history Edward Kienholz. '11+11 Tableaux' (1970) Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Moderna Museets samling i ny presentation (1998-2000) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Sår:mellan demokrati och förlösning i samtida konst (1998) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Pop Art & Nouveau Réalisme, ur samlingarna (1991-1992) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Moderna Museet c/o Malmö Konsthall (2003) Malmö Konsthall The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Wounds : text : between democracy and redemption in contemporary art : [Moderna Museet, Stockholm 14/2 - 19/4 1998]Moderna Museet c/o Malmö Konsthall : [Malmö Konsthall : 8 februari - 4 maj 2003]Pop Art & Nouveau realisme : ur Moderna Museets samlingar : Moderna Museet 26.12.1991 - 09.08.1992Wounds : image : between democracy and redemption in contemporary art : [Moderna Museet, Stockholm 14/2 - 19/4 1998]Edward Kienholz : 11+11 tableaux : [Moderna Museet, Stockholm 17 januari - 1 mars, 1970] Bibliography Gamwell, Lynn (red.), Dreams 1900-2000: Science, Art and the Unconscious Mind, New York 2000, ill. s 247. Kienholz: Tableau Drawings, Venice, Calif 2001.