06.10.2024 - 09.03.2025

FREDDIE MERCURY

The exhibition uses a wealth of objects, photos, texts, documents and videos to make the life, grandeur and ambivalence of one of the most colourful personalities in rock history visible and tangible.

Barlach Kunstmuseum Wedel

06.10.2024 - 09.03.2025

Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on 5 September 1946 in Zanzibar. His family comes from India and belongs to the Parsi religious group.

Together with Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, Freddie Mercury founded one of the most innovative rock bands of all time: Queen made music history with their productivity, their unmistakable sound, their rousing live performances and their numerous concept albums.

Freddie Mercury probably had the most extraordinary and fascinating voice in rock music. Although he appeared rather shy in his private life, as a public personality he was highly flamboyant and hedonistic. His theatrical and cross-gender stage looks were also directed against the performances of other male bands, with whom he did not want to be confused. While he never publicly addressed his sexual orientation, the band's name and image were influenced by Mercury's queerness, right down to the lyrics.

Freddie Mercury was an exceptional artistic phenomenon, both in terms of his performance on stage and his creativity as an artist. But his great artistic diversity was not only characterised by rock music. He was also well versed in theatre history, loved opera and ballet and was a painter and draughtsman. Together with opera singer Montserrat Caballé, he sang "Barcelona" in 1988, an anthem that became the theme tune for the 1992 Summer Olympics in the Catalan metropolis.

Queen's 20-minute performance during the Live Aid concert at London's Wembley Stadium on 13 July 1985 is one of the most spectacular rock concerts of all time. But Mercury had already shown in January 1985 at the Rock in Rio Festival in front of 300,000 people that he was at the artistic peak of his life as a musician and performer.

"We Will Rock You" is not only one of the band's biggest hits, but also the title of one of the most successful musicals of recent decades, which has been seen by more than 15 million people in 17 countries. The 2018 blockbuster film "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Rami Malek in the role of Freddie Mercury has once again demonstrated the band's unbroken appeal. The song "Bohemian Rhapsody" itself is the most streamed rock classic of our time with over 2.3 billion views.

The FREDDIE MERCURY exhibition uses a wealth of objects, photos, texts, documents and videos to visualise and explore the life, grandeur and ambivalence of one of the most dazzling personalities in rock history. His courage, his love of humanity, his deep emotionality, his originality, his curiosity and his openness towards other arts make him an absolutely exceptional phenomenon. He died in London on 24 November 1991 as a result of his HIV infection. His work continues to radiate into the present day.