Rainer Fetting
1949

Konzert in der Waldbühne. 1988.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated, titled and inscribed with the work number "B 80". 140 x 190 cm (55.1 x 74.8 in).
[AR].

• Music, a blaze of color, and ecstasy—a vivid symbol of the Berlin spirit of the 1980s.
• Rainer Fetting was the leading figure of the “Neue Wilde” (New Wild Ones), a counter-movement to the then-dominant trends of Minimalism and Conceptual Art.
• Other works from this important creative period are held in the collections of the Tate Gallery, London; the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main; and the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.
• From the Deutsche Bank Collection.
• Offered on the international auction market for the first time (Source: artprice.com).

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the artist. We are grateful for his kind support.

PROVENANCE: Deutsche Bank Collection.

"There are five variations of the ‘Concert at the Waldbühne’ motif from 1988: the Rolling Stones concert (1982) as seen from the perspective of the audience. As with many themes, I didn’t visualize my experiences in images until a few years later.
The 1988 painting depicts the Rolling Stones concert at the Waldbühne in 1982, where I saw the Stones live for the first time. From an early age, I was a fan of the Stones—the “hardest band of all time”—alongside Jimi Hendrix, soul, and blues music (in contrast to Beatles fans).
With a 40 DM ticket, I was still able to squeeze into the bushes to the side of the stage back then, fighting my way to get very close to the stage. From there, I could see Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and the band up close and could hardly believe it.
During the concert, I wandered around to also get a view of the scene from way up high.
The Waldbühne is built steeply into the hillside, an amphitheater erected by the Nazis in the immediate vicinity of the monumental structures of the Olympic Park, modeled on idealized Greek antiquity. From above, one is supposed to get a sense of grandeur.
This was nearly 20 years after the infamous 1965 concert, when the Waldbühne was reduced to rubble by the enraged young audience in a kind of mass hysteria, and the Stones had to cut their concert short after five songs.
With songs like “Street Fighting Man,” the young German audience (with their frowned-upon long hair and leather jackets) vented their anger at state authority and paternalism in conservative post-war Germany, in a sort of reckoning with the Nazi era. During this time, militant protest movements and the student revolution emerged.
I saw further concerts of the Stones in 1998 and 2014 (Waldbühne).
But in 2018, with an expensive premium ticket at the Olympic Stadium, I had lost my enthusiasm for the Stones. The older audience, already showing their age, particularly got on my nerves when they jumped up from their seats to feign enthusiasm and vitality during the familiar and somewhat overplayed songs, while I remained seated so I could watch the show."
Rainer Fetting in April 2026 on this work “Concert at the Waldbühne” from 1988