Meret Oppenheim

The Völklingen Ironworks flooded in red light
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Oliver Dietze

Born in 1913 in Berlin, Germany
died in 1985 in Basel, Switzerland

Work

X-ray of the skull M.O., 1964

Oppenheim Meret

Oppenheim Meret
Copyright: © Hermann und Margrit Rupf-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Bern (Faksimile)

Meret Oppenheim's unusual self-portrait from 1964 is an X-ray image of the artist wearing opulent jewellery. She wears two rings on her raised hand, a deliberate contrast to Anna Bertha Röntgen's famous hand X-ray, which shows only one ring, her wedding ring. Oppenheim thus emphasises her feminine self-determination and independence. Her image also acts as a memento mori, which, like an X-ray view from the depths of time, resembles an archaic grave – perhaps that of a Celtic princess with characteristic jewellery offerings.