IMAGO Meret Oppenheim Part Two: 1959-85

Rediscovery, Becoming a Contemporary Rôle-model, Feminism, the Playful and the Androgyne

A second excerpt from 569, this film covers the emergence of Meret Oppenheim from her long years of depression and creative block - the transformation of the caterpillar into the imago, the butterfly. Suddenly freed from self-doubt, full of hope, she began working again. Her marriage to a supportive businessman who understood her need for the freedom to lead an independent life made it possible for her to spend her weekends at her studio in Berne; in 1967 her first `retrospective' took place in Stockholm, and she was rediscovered by the art world. At the end of 1967 her husband died, and her art `became everything' to her. Meret Oppenheim had a deep trust in the unconscious, and throughout her life she recorded her dreams, which she used as a source of guidance and self-knowledge. She also strongly believed that art had no gender, and strove to balance and unite the opposite sides of her psyche, the spiritual-female and spiritual-male, an effort that was reflected in her appearance and in the dreams of her last years. She felt that, ever since the establishment of patriarchy, the female principle had been devalued and projected on to women. Because of this disturbed balance, she felt that a new direction in the evolution of mankind is needed, where the female principle is not devalued and humanity arrives at wholeness. Younger artists were impressed by her work, and yet, she said, `I have always been making the same thing.'

Slightly shortened version of the second half of 569.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.