Self-Portrait with Two Flowers in Her Raised Left Hand (Selbstbildnis mit zwei Blumen in der erhobenen linken Hand), 1907
Paula Modersohn-Becker. Jointly owned by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of Debra and Leon Black, and Neue Galerie New York, gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder.
During her short life, Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907) radically charted her own path, exploring the singular aspects of the feminine experience in a bold style that foreshadowed Expressionism. Her most striking works—large scale drawings and colorful paintings—are frank portrayals of childhood and images of the lived bodily experience of motherhood, pregnancy, and old age. Modersohn-Becker is especially acclaimed for her many self-portraits, including the first nude self-portraits known to have been made by a woman.
Despite Modersohn-Becker’s fame in Germany and her posthumous reputation as a feminist icon, Paula Modersohn-Becker: I Am Me marks her first museum retrospective in the United States. Join curator Jay A. Clarke for a deep dive into the life and work of this groundbreaking artist.
About the Speaker
Jay A. Clarke is the Rothman Family Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her recent exhibitions and publications include Bridget Riley: Drawings from the Artist’s Studio (2022), Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth (2023), and Picasso: Drawing from Life (2023). She has written several articles on Käthe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, and the materials, processes, and markets of prints and drawings circa 1900.
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Closed captioning will be available for this program. For questions related to accessibility accommodations, please email access@artic.edu.
