About
Karin Kneffel’s lush and eloquent pictures are perfectly constructed impossibilities—collapsing heterogeneous places and incidents in a flawlessly executed, seductively realist manner. Although many of her sources actually exist, the resulting images are cunningly wrought scenes inspired by the many lives of art, and which highlight painting’s unique ability to simultaneously uphold and destroy illusions.
Karin Kneffel was born in 1957 in Marl, Germany. From 1981 to 1987, she studied at Westphalian Wilhelm University, Germany, and Comprehensive University of Duisburg, Germany. From 1981 to 1987, she studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, Germany. She was a visiting professor at the University of the Arts, Germany, in 1998, and at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavik, in 2000. From 2000 to 2008, Kneffel was a professor at the University of the Arts, Germany, and in 2008, she was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Recent solo exhibitions include Museum Jean de La Fontaine, France (1999); Monks House-Museum of Modern Art, Germany (2006); Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Cologne (2008); Haus Esters, Germany (2009); Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany (2010); Museo De Arte Contemporáneo, Spain (2014); Barcelona Pavilion, Spain (2014); “Fallstudien,” Kathe Kollwitz Museum, Germany (2015); “Works on Paper,” Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Germany (2015); and “Bild im Bild,” Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2017).
Kneffel currently lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.
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Fairs, Events & Announcements
In Conversation
Karen Kneffel
Julia Voss
Sunday, September 18, 2022, 11am
Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany
franz-marc-museum.de
In conjunction with the exhibition Karin Kneffel: Im Bild, on view at the Franz Marc Museum in Kochel am See, Germany, through October 3, Karin Kneffel will be in conversation with journalist and art historian Julia Voss. The pair will discuss Kneffel’s seductively realist paintings of interior scenes and baroque still lifes, in which she layers and recombines things, places, traces, and incidents, whether inspired by personal memories or art historical sources. To attend the event, purchase tickets at the museum on the day of the event.
Installation view, Karin Kneffel: Im Bild, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany, May 29–October 3, 2022. Artwork © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany, 2022. Photo: Achim Kukulies
Museum Exhibitions
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Karin Kneffel
Im Bild
May 29–October 3, 2022
Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany
franz-marc-museum.de
This exhibition, whose title translates to In the Picture, presents Karin Kneffel’s illusionistic paintings of historical artworks installed in unknown spaces and seen through misty or raindrop-spattered windowpanes, alongside source works from the museum’s collection by artists including Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Oskar Kokoschka, and August Macke.
Installation view, Karin Kneffel: Im Bild, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany, May 29–October 3, 2022. Artwork © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany, 2022. Photo: Achim Kukulies
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Karin Kneffel
Im Augenblick
May 1–August 28, 2022
Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR, Germany
maxernstmuseum.lvr.de
This exhibition, whose title translates to At the Moment, showcases Karin Kneffel’s work, in which lush and eloquent pictures are perfectly constructed impossibilities—collapsing heterogeneous places and incidents in a flawlessly executed, seductively realist manner. Although many of Kneffel’s sources actually exist, the resulting images are cunningly wrought scenes inspired by the many lives of art, and which highlighting painting’s unique ability to simultaneously uphold and destroy illusions.
Karin Kneffel, Untitled, 2021 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany, 2022. Photo: Ivo Faber
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Karin Kneffel
October 12, 2019–March 8, 2020
Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
www.museum-frieder-burda.de
Karin Kneffel’s lush and eloquent pictures are perfectly constructed impossibilities—collapsing heterogeneous places and incidents in a flawlessly executed, seductively realist manner. Although many of her sources actually exist, the resulting images are cunningly wrought scenes inspired by the many lives of art, and which highlight painting’s unique ability to simultaneously uphold and destroy illusions.
Karin Kneffel, Untitled, 1998 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany, 2020
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Karin Kneffel
Still
June 22–September 29, 2019
Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
www.kunsthalle-bremen.de
This exhibition showcases Karin Kneffel’s artistic development from the early 1990s to the present and includes monumental paintings as well as graphic works.
Karin Kneffel, Untitled, 1996 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany, 2019. Photo: Achim Kukulies