Painting Version 1-90, 1976

This edition comprises 90 hand-painted works by Joseph Beuys, each differing subtly in the structure of the painted forms and in the shape of the sheep’s heads. This series exemplifies Beuys’s interest in repetition with variation – an edition that resists uniformity through the individuality of the artist’s touch. The motif of the sheep’s head, recurring throughout Beuys’s practice, invokes themes of guidance, vulnerability, and collective movement. By combining serial production with uniquely painted elements, the works merge the conceptual logic of the multiple with the immediacy of drawing and gesture. Created in 1976, the edition highlights Beuys’s ongoing inquiry into transformation, symbolism, and the expressive potential of simple, direct markings.

This work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Broad, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; National Galleries of Scotland; and Bavarian State Painting Collections.