Janel Schermerhorn doesn’t remember the exact gallery she visited in Germany…
She remembers the feeling, though — that split second of thinking something was wrong. Like… wait, is this hung incorrectly? And then realizing, no. It wasn’t.
This week, with the news that Georg Baselitz has passed away at 88, Janel Schermerhorn found herself thinking back to that moment. Not in a formal, art-historian kind of way. But in a way of experiencing art that lingers with meaning.
Janel Schermerhorn, Berlin, and Learning to Sit With Discomfort
When Janel Schermerhorn first moved to Berlin as an American, a lot of things felt slightly off-center. Not wrong — just unfamiliar in a way that made you pause before reacting.
And Baselitz’s work kind of lives in that same space.
His upside-down paintings don’t let you settle in too quickly. You can’t just glance and move on. You have to stop, adjust, question what you’re looking at. It slows you down in a way that feels almost… intentional. Which, living in Berlin, starts to feel familiar after a while.
It’s Not Really About the Painting
What stayed with Janel Schermerhorn wasn’t the subject of the painting. She couldn’t even tell you exactly what was in it now.
It was the experience of looking at something and realizing your brain was trying to “fix” it.
To turn it right-side up.
To make it make sense.
And then having to sit there and accept that it wasn’t going to.
There’s something very Berlin about that.
The Quiet Influence of Georg Baselitz
Janel Schermerhorn isn’t an art critic. She’s a writer, a mother, someone who has spent years building community and telling stories — whether through spaces like the American Women’s Club of Berlin or on stage as a two-time Moth Story Slam winner.
But that’s kind of the thing. Baselitz’s work doesn’t only belong to people who “study” art. It lingers in smaller ways — for anyone who pauses to view his creations.
When hearing about George Baselitz’s passing, Janel Schermerhorn found herself thinking — not about legacy in the big, museum sense — but about how many people had that same moment she experienced at a gallery she now cannot place. Standing in front of one of his paintings, slightly confused, slightly curious, and a little more aware than they were a minute before.
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