• Exhibition will then move to the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin from 16 August until 1 December 2013
• Pictorial material at http://presse.leisuregroup.at/kunstforum/oppenheim

Meret Oppenheim (1913 – 1985) is one of the most significant and idiosyncratic artists of the twentieth century. Even while still young she became a legend in Paris as the creator of a cup coated in fur – “Breakfast in Fur”. Since then she gained the reputation of being a scandal-generating muse, a mysterious model and as the most important female representative of French Surrealism. Her multifaceted oeuvre, whether painting, sculpture, poetry or design, eschews all stylistic classification and stringent development. Oppenheim’s interest is in the transformation between the sexes, between human being and animal, nature and civilisation, dream and reality. She uses myths, games and dreams as her starting point just as much as literary sources and the writings of C.G. Jung. In the nineteen-seventies, Oppenheim, who vehemently opposed gender roles imposed by society, became a key identification figure for feminism. She stated as her credo: “Freedom isn’t given to you on a plate, you have to take it for yourself”

To celebrate her centennial, the Bank Austria Kunstforum is presenting the first posthumous retrospective on Meret Oppenheim in Austria. Afterwards the exhibition will be shown in the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin.

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