The German-born Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim lived in Bern for the last 30 years of her life; her bulbous fountain, erected in the centre of the city two years before she died in 1985 and now overgrown with lichen and accretions of limestone, is just a stone’s throw from the Kunstmuseum, which from 22 October–13 February 2022 will host the first leg of this transatlantic survey of Oppenheim’s work. Expect the Surrealist’s famous fur-lined breakfast set, along with other fantastical pieces from throughout her long career, ranging from other absurdist found-object assemblages (a beer mug with the tail of a squirrel, for instance) to abstract paintings, collages, and sculptures in bronze. Find out more from the Kunstmuseum Bern’s website.
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Squirrel (1960/69), Meret Oppenheim. Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström; © 2021, ProLitteris, Zurich
Quick, Quick, the most Beautiful Vowel is Voiding, M.E. by M.O. (1934), Meret Oppenheim. Sammlung Bürgi. Photo: Roland Aellig; © 2021, ProLitteris, Zurich
Enchantment (1962), Meret Oppenheim. Kunstmuseum Bern. Photo: Peter Lauri; © 2021, ProLitteris, Zurich