The Artistic Vision of Karin Kneffel

Key Takeaways

• Karin Kneffel's oil paintings blend reality and imagination, creating unique scenes that challenge the viewer's perception.
• Her artistic approach is rooted in intellectual curiosity and a desire to explore the human experience through contemporary art.
• Kneffel's background in German language, literature, and philosophy has influenced her artistic vision, which is reflected in her oil paintings.
• Her work is a perfect example of contemporary art, where imagination and reality intersect, making her a prominent figure in the art world.
• Kneffel's oil paintings are a testament to her ability to merge different elements, creating a new and innovative style that is characteristic of contemporary art.
• Through her art, Kneffel invites viewers to ponder the boundaries between reality and fantasy, making her oil paintings thought-provoking and engaging.

"My interest in creating art is to evoke a sense of uncertainty, something I have yet to fully comprehend." — Karin Kneffel

Karin Kneffel’s rich, evocative oil paintings are meticulously crafted paradoxes that blend disparate spaces and narratives. Whether drawn from personal memories or inspired by art history, her detailed still lifes and interior scenes highlight the representational power of painting while emphasizing its inherently imaginative nature. By merging and layering elements to form enigmatic, multidimensional environments, Kneffel positions the viewer as a silent observer in a profound meditation on the intricate interplay between image, space, and time.

A Journey Through Art and Academia

Born in 1957 in Marl, Germany, Kneffel pursued studies at the University of Münster and the Comprehensive University of Duisburg before transitioning to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. There, between 1981 and 1987, she studied under Johannes Brus, Norbert Tadeusz, and Gerhard Richter, eventually becoming a master student of Richter. Her academic career includes roles as a visiting professor at Hochschule für Künste Bremen in 1998 and the Iceland University of the Arts in 2000. From 2000 to 2008, she served as a professor at the University of the Arts, Bremen, and in 2008, she took on a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Today, Kneffel continues to live and work in both Düsseldorf and Munich.

Innovative Approaches to Space and Time

Between 2009 and 2010, Kneffel presented an exhibition at Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany, which featured the historic Haus Lange and Haus Esters—two modernist villas designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In House on the Edge of Town, she explored the buildings’ past as residences, weaving together history and imagination through layered perspectives and intricate details that blurred the line between fiction and reality.

In 2010, she turned her attention to New York’s iconic Seagram Building, transforming its familiar interior into something surreal by depicting water droplets seemingly clinging to the surfaces of her paintings. These visual distortions, reminiscent of the microcosmic bubbles and droplets seen in 17th-century still-life paintings, add a sense of mystery and intrigue. In other works, Kneffel captures words, phrases, and sketches as if drawn on fogged windowpanes, offering glimpses into layered realities beyond the glass.

Reimagining Historical Artworks

For her 2016 exhibition New Works at Gagosian, Beverly Hills, Kneffel examined works by artists such as Marc Chagall and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner that had once belonged to collector Hermann Lange. Through painting, she sought to symbolically reunite these now-dispersed pieces, navigating contemporary art’s intersection with film, photography, and digital media.

Later, in Face of a Woman, Head of a Child at Gagosian, Rome (2022–23), she focused on sacred polychrome wooden figures from the early Northern Renaissance. By enlarging and cropping their faces while meticulously rendering every detail, she created an uncanny effect. By removing any identifying inscriptions, titles, or religious iconography, she secularized these figures, presenting them as unique and tangible rather than purely symbolic.

A Major Retrospective: At the Moment

In 2022, the Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR in Germany hosted At the Moment, a comprehensive retrospective featuring over eighty of Kneffel’s works, including oil paintings and watercolors dating back to 2004. This exhibition explored her use of optical distortions—such as reflection and refraction—to layer multiple visual and temporal dimensions, persistently challenging traditional ways of seeing.

Through her masterful manipulation of perspective, layering, and detail, Karin Kneffel continues to redefine contemporary realism, drawing viewers into immersive worlds that question the boundaries of perception and representation.

Prestigious Exhibitions and Recognitions

Since the 1990s, Kneffel's work has been displayed in major solo exhibitions at renowned institutions such as Kunstmuseum Bonn, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Mönchehaus Museum Goslar, Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Kunsthalle Bremen, Museum Frieder Burda Baden-Baden, Max Ernst Museum Brühl, Museum Haus Esters Krefeld, and Museum Küppermühle Duisburg. Her contributions to the art world have earned her numerous accolades, including the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship, Kunstfonds Bonn Scholarship, Lingen Art Prize, Villa Massimo Scholarship, and Cologne Fine Art Prize.

Karin Kneffel’s Artistic Vision and Themes

"Karin Kneffel is one of the leading figures in Neorealism. Her photorealistic works blend realism with surrealism." – Ralph Goertz (Director, IKS/Institute for Art Documentation and Scenography)

Kneffel's art draws inspiration from classical genre painting, encompassing interior scenes, landscapes, animal portraits, and still lifes. Her approach reinvents the familiar, presenting everyday subjects in a way that makes them feel fresh and unexpected.

The Intricate Composition of Her Paintings

Kneffel's paintings are defined by an exceptional level of detail, precise execution, and a mastery of illusion. Their hyper-realistic quality initially unsettles the viewer, introducing a captivating ambiguity.

She employs techniques such as intentional blurring, reflections, layered imagery, and extreme close-ups or exaggerated scales that distort conventional perceptions of reality. These elements create a secondary layer within her paintings, challenging viewers to look beyond the surface and engage with the deeper meaning of her compositions.

Limited Edition Prints – Rare Collectibles

Beyond her original canvas works, Karin Kneffel has also produced limited-edition prints, which are available only in small quantities. These exclusive prints have become highly sought-after by collectors. We are delighted to offer authentic screen prints and etchings by this distinguished artist.

Thematic Explorations in Karin Kneffel’s Work

Animal Portraits: A Unique Perspective

Early in her career, Kneffel was deeply engaged with animal imagery, portraying them in an intimate and striking manner. She depicted animal heads in extreme close-up, with the subjects gazing directly at the viewer, establishing a compelling and almost personal interaction between human and animal.

Monumental Fruit Compositions: A Play on Perception

Kneffel gained international recognition for her large-scale fruit paintings, which present ripe, luscious fruit in exaggerated proportions. These oversized close-ups create an almost tactile experience, making the viewer feel as if they could reach out and touch the subject.

What sets these works apart is the unconventional backdrop—rather than traditional still-life arrangements, Kneffel places fruit in abstract, darkened spaces or against unexpected landscapes, giving them a dreamlike and surreal quality.

Her mastery of light and shadow enhances the seductive appeal of the fruit, emphasizing their impeccable, almost unnatural perfection. This deliberate emphasis on flawlessness adds an unsettling dimension, blurring the line between reality and illusion.

Major Solo Exhibitions

2024

• Karin Kneffel: Face the Face – Galerie Jahn and Jahn, Munich, Germany
• Karin Kneffel: Come in, Look out – MKM Museum Küppersmühle of Modern Art, Duisburg, Germany
• Karin Kneffel: Face of a Woman, Head of a Child – Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf, Switzerland

2022

• Karin Kneffel: Face of a Woman, Head of a Child – Gagosian, Rome, Italy
• Karin Kneffel: In the Moment (Im Augenblick) – Max Ernst Museum, Brühl, Germany

2021

• Karin Kneffel – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany

2020

• Karin Kneffel: Haymatlos – Dirimart, Dolapdere, Istanbul, Turkey

2019

• Karin Kneffel – Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
• Karin Kneffel: Still – Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, Germany

2017

• Karin Kneffel: Image within an Image (Bild im Bild) – Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany

2016

• Karin Kneffel – Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
• Karin Kneffel: Recent Works – Gagosian, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

2015

• Karin Kneffel – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany

2014

• Karin Kneffel – Galería Senda, Barcelona, Spain

2008

• Karin Kneffel: New Paintings – Barbara Mathes Gallery, Upper East Side, New York, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

• Art for Happiness – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Frozen Mirrors – KAI 10 Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Garden of Earthly Delight – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany
• The Simple Things: Minimalism and More – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• A Bouquet of Flowers: Transient Beauty – Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Spring 2024 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Chapeau Fred – Galerie Jahn and Jahn, Munich, Germany

2023

• Works from a Private Collection: From Bourgeois to Valdés – Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf, Germany
• ONLINE: Art for Happiness – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Autumn 2023 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Figure (Figur) – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany
• Art in the Rhineland – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• My World Play – Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Spring 2023 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Forty Years of The Corridor – National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
• The World from the Sixth Day of Creation (Die Welt vom Sechsten Schöpfungstag) – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany

2022

• Art Brings Happiness (Kunst macht Glücklich) – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Fall 2022 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Spring 2022 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany

2021

• Editions I – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany
• Art for Happiness – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Fall 2021 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Spring 2021 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany

2020

• ONLINE: Art for Happiness – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Recent Acquisitions Fall 2020 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Karin Kneffel: Re/Construction & Willi Baumeister: Form and Figure – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany
• Don’t Forget Your Mask: Part II – Galerie Jahn and Jahn, Munich, Germany
• Still Life (Still Leben) – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany
• Moving Energies: 10 Years Me Collectors Room Berlin – me Collectors Room Berlin / Olbricht Foundation, Berlin, Germany
• 65 Years of Galerie Koch – Galerie Koch, Hannover, Germany
• New Acquisitions Spring 2020 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany

2019

• Inventory I: The Things (Inventur I: Die Dinge) – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin, Germany
• New Acquisitions Spring 2019 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• #BEduesseldorf – Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf, Germany

2018

• Group Exhibition – Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
• New Acquisitions Fall 2018 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Ten I Ten – Schönewald Fine Arts, Düsseldorf, Germany
• New Acquisitions Spring 2018 – Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany

2017

• Modes of Behavior Towards People When Affection Plays a Part – Klein Collection, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany

2015

• Domestic Space 4 – Zweigstelle Berlin, Germany
• A Tree is a Tree is a Tree – Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Empathy and Abstraction: Modern Women in Germany – Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany
• The Collection of Alison and Peter W. Klein – Ketterer Kunst, Munich, Germany
• Painting Show – Part Two – Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany

2014

• 40|10 Changing Images (Bilderwechsel) – Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
• Forty Years of the Collection – Ten Years of the Museum – Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany

2011

• Things are Queer – Marta Herford, Herford, Germany
• Out of Focus: After Gerhard Richter – Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

2009

• Gallery Selections: Pizzi Cannella, Cornell, Kneffel, Jenney, Melotti, and Mitchell – Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York, USA

Market and Auction Achievements

Karin Kneffel, a German Postwar & Contemporary painter born in 1957, has gained significant recognition. Her works have been showcased in numerous key galleries and museums, including KAI 10 Arthena Foundation in Düsseldorf and Gagosian in Rome.

Her artwork has frequently been auctioned, with prices ranging from $108 to $374,961 USD, depending on size and medium. The record sale price of $374,961 USD was set in 2022 for "(F XXXVIII)" at Grisebach.

Annual Record Prices for Karin Kneffel:

• 2025:Untitled (Apples)
• 2024:Ohne Titel
• 2023:FX
• 2022:"(F XXXVIII)"
• 2021:I Need a Wall Behind Me
• 2020:Untitled
• 2019:Ohne Titel
• 2018:2008/8
• 2017:Untitled
• 2016:Pfirsiche (Peaches)
• 2015:Two-piece work: Untitled (Grapes)
• 2014:Pflaumen (F XXIV) (Plums)
• 2013:Untitled
• 2012:Ohne Titel (Plums)
• 2011:Untitled (Lemon)
• 2010:Ohne Titel
• 2008:Ohne Titel (Kangaroo)
• 2007:Hund mit rotem Teppich (Dog with Red Carpet)

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