Meret Oppenheim

Meret Oppenheim (1913–1985) became famous with "Déjeuner en fourrure," a coffee set covered in fur. However, the artist created many outstanding works and an extensive body of work that has been recognized in both national and international exhibitions and retrospectives.

Born in Charlottenburg near Berlin, Meret Oppenheim and her family moved to Steinen near Lörrach in 1914. In 1930, Oppenheim lived with her grandmother in Basel, attended a vocational school, but dropped out to pursue her own artistic path. At the age of 18, she moved to Paris, befriended Alberto Giacometti, Hans Arp, and the Surrealists around André Breton, and exhibited alongside them. In the "cauldron of art," not only did her first works emerge, but she also formed romantic relationships with Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Leonor Fini, all while ensuring she maintained her artistic independence. In 1937, she returned to Basel; later, she moved to Bern with her husband Wolfgang La Roche.

Although her artistic activity was repeatedly interrupted by creative crises and depressive phases, she managed to continue her path uncompromisingly. Even today, she inspires young artists not only because of her work but also because she asserted herself in a time when women rarely had the opportunity to present their art in exhibitions.

Bärbel Reetz first encountered Meret Oppenheim's work in 1972. In the following years, she was fascinated not only by the paintings and objects but also by her poems and dream journals, the jewelry designs for fashion ateliers, the surprising results of Oppenheim's writing games, the film project about Kaspar Hauser, and her engagement with Bettine Brentano and Caroline von Günderode. Previous biographical texts about Meret Oppenheim have always been written from the perspective of art historians. Bärbel Reetz now presents the first German-language biography.