Maria Lassnig (1919–2014)

Pioneer of body awareness painting

Maria Lassnig is one of the most important European artists of the 20th century. With her so-called ‘body awareness paintings’ – powerful, radically honest depictions of her own feelings – she opened a new chapter in painting. Instead of depicting the exterior, she painted how her body felt, not how it looked.

Born in Carinthia, trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, she worked in Paris, New York and Vienna – always uncompromising, courageous, following her own visual language. Her works revolve around inner perception, vulnerability, self-assertion and female identity – often with subtle humour, sometimes painfully clear.

As the first female professor of painting at an Austrian art academy, she influenced generations. International exhibitions, including documenta and the Venice Biennale, honoured her life’s work. In 2013, she received the Golden Lion of the Biennale for her entire oeuvre.

Today, Maria Lassnig is considered one of the most important artists of her time – her works are impressive testimonies to a life dedicated to art and truthfulness.