A coproduction with the Zentrum Paul Klee
«Lust and Vice» The Seven Deadly Sins from Dürer to Nauman
The Kunstmuseum Bern and the Zentrum Paul Klee devote a comprehensive exhibition to the seven deadly sins, targeting a fitting documentation of artistic preoccupation with this theme from medieval times to the present. The exhibition also addresses the relevance of the notion of sin in contemporary society and how our culture justifies changes in values.
Despite the secularization of society and the waning dominion of Christian ethics, the concept of the cardinal sins is, still today, all the rage, as evidenced by David Fincher’s Hollywood film Seven (1996) or artworks such as Bruce Nauman’s Vices and Virtues (1983-1988 / 2008).
Pope Gregory I (ca. 540–604) was the first to speak of the “seven deadly sins.” He was thereby referring to seven attitudes of the soul, bad characteristics or vices, which lead to the death of the relationship between humankind and God as well as of relationships among humankind:
- Superbia: pride (hubris, wantonness, arrogance, vanity)
- Avaritia: avarice (greed, miserliness)
- Invidia: envy (malevolence, jealousy)
- Ira: anger (rage, retribution, thirst for revenge)
- Luxuria: lust (promiscuity)
- Gula: gluttony (greed, immoderation, intemperance, egotism)
- Acedia: sloth (of the heart/of the intellect; laziness, satiety, cowardice)
Society’s attitude to the individual sins listed here has grown ambivalent in recent times: Greed, envy, or gluttony (in the form of consumerism) have become the driving force of the capitalist economic system, while lust in the form of sexual promiscuity has lost its negative connotations in large sections of our thrill-orientated society. At the same time, however, we can observe contrasting tendencies: the greed of managers is denounced as a rip-off mentality, the consumerist behavior in our throwaway society as superficial and meaningless.
Works by: Marina Abramovic, Adriaen Brouwer, Marc Chagall, Otto Dix, Albrecht Dürer, Fischli / Weiss, Gilbert & George, Andreas Gursky, Paul Klee, Bruce Nauman, Martin Parr, Sigmar Polke, Peter Paul Rubens, Cindy Sherman, Yinka Shonibare, Andy Warhol.
Deadly Sins at the Kunstmuseum Bern:
- Superbia: pride (hubris, wantonness, arrogance, vanity)
- Avaritia: avarice (greed, miserliness)
- Invidia: envy (malevolence, jealousy)
- Ira: anger (rage, retribution, thirst for revenge)
Deadly Sins at the Zentrum Paul Klee:
- Luxuria: lust (promiscuity)
- Gula: gluttony (greed, immoderation, intemperance, egotism)
- Acedia: sloth (of the heart/of the intellect; laziness, satiety, cowardice)
