Intro
My Exhibition 22.10.21–13.2.22
“I suggested to C.F. Reuterswärd that rather than ‘Portrait’ he use an x-ray of my skull, with big ear-rings, neck and hand, also with necklace and ring. C.F.R. liked it a lot, shall I send it?”
Meret Oppenheim, 1967 Letter to Mette Prawitz, Moderna Museet Stockholm, 18.1.1967, Archive Moderna Museet
It’s a paradoxical situation: the museum does not accept the suggestion and instead uses a nude photo of her. In the photo the 54-year-old is 20 years old. The cover of the catalogue also features not a work by Oppenheim but a design by the artist C.F. Reuterswärd. At this moment of her greatest success so far she understands that she will have to manage her public image as an artist herself.
This self-portrait is symbolic of Meret Oppenheim, who always continued to develop her work with radical openness. She actively included different materials and current trends into her work and never stuck with one style or method.