The Bavarian State Painting Collections hold 31 masterpieces by Georg Baselitz from all the artist's creative phases. The volume analyses for the first time these important paintings and sculptures within the context of the history of the collection, which has been shaped not only by the artist's out-standing supporters and collectors, including Duke Franz von Bayern, but also by the passionate commitment of the directors and curators of the museums. In 1972, when Sea Swallow became the first work by Georg Baselitz to join the Bavarian State Painting Collections, this represented the first step towards the establishment of an epoch-making collection. Today, 46 years later, the museum is dedicating this extensive publication to this main focus within its holdings which has been built up over the past decades. It spotlights one of the highlights of its collection of art after 1945, whose outstanding profile in the international museum landscape is also charac -terized by unique holdings of works by Joseph Beuys, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke, Arnulf Rainer and Fred Sandback.