Dieter Roth

Basel on the Rhine

1969

Chocolate and steel

Not on view

To make this 1969 editioned painting, Roth brushed a thick layer of liquefied chocolate directly onto a heavy steel plate. Over time, the chocolate has cracked, developed a bloom (a thin, whitish layer of fat), and been host to tiny insects, as evidenced by the small holes covering the surface. The work is titled after the Rhine river—which flows through Basel, one of the cities where Roth lived for a time—and recalls his assertion that “nature looks like an abstract painting.”

Gallery label from

Wait, Later This Will Be Nothing: Editions by Dieter Roth, February 17–June 24, 2013.

Medium Chocolate and steel
Dimensions 31 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 1 3/4" (80 x 80 x 4.6 cm)
Credit Barbara Jakobson Fund and Jeanne C. Thayer Fund
Object number 43.1993
Department Painting & Sculpture

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