Miriam Cahn
Miriam Cahn (born 21 July 1949) is a Swiss painter.
Miriam Cahn

Carolineandrieu · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1949. · Basel.
- Nationality
- Switzerland.
- Occupation
- painter, artist, draftsperson, videographer, sculptor and feminist.
- Fields
- visual arts and feminism.
- Known for
- Brutalitätenskulptur.
- Honours
- Karl Ströher Award and Oskar Kokoschka Award.
- Languages
- German.
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Documentary summary
Miriam Cahn (born 21 July 1949) is a Swiss painter.
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Note VALÉORINE
Miriam Cahn (born 1949) is an artist, draftsperson and feminist, among other activities, of Swiss nationality. The artist was born in Basel.
Miriam Cahn worked in Berlin. Activity centred on feminism and visual arts.
Among the works is Brutalitätenskulptur. Languages used include German. Works are held at Lenbachhaus, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Museum Arnhem, among others. Honours include Karl Ströher Award and Oskar Kokoschka Award.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q530599 · wikipedia · Miriam Cahn
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is visual arts and feminism. Places of work recorded in the authority are Berlin. Works named in the authority record are Brutalitätenskulptur. Work by Miriam Cahn is recorded in the collections of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Tate, Museum of Modern Art, Lenbachhaus and Museum Arnhem. Distinctions recorded are Karl Ströher Award and Oskar Kokoschka Award.
Cahn was born on 21 July 1949 in Basel, Switzerland. She studied at Schule für Gestaltung Basel in Basel from 1968 to 1973, where she became involved with feminist and anti-nuclear movements. Cahn is Jewish.
Work
Work
Cahn's paintings and drawings incorporate feminism and child endangerment themes, female rituals; often featuring "violent and shocking representations of sexual organs". They are often created using unorthodox methods. Cahn's first exhibition was Being a Women in My Public Role in 1979. Cahn's first exhibition in the United States was at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York City, in 2011. Cahn's work has described as having Neo-Expressionist influences.
Individual exhibitions
Individual exhibitions
READING DUST, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2024 Miriam CAHN: Ma pensée serielle, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2023 Miriam Cahn: ME AS HAPPENING, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), 2020–21 Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2019 Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2019 Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2019 everything is equally important, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2019 DAS GENAUE HINSCHAUEN, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2019 ICH ALS MENSCH, Kunstmuseum Bern, 2019 devoir-aimer, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, 2017 mare nostrum, Meyer Riegger, Berlin, 2016 Lachen bei gefahr, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, 2012 Sarajevo, Stampa, Basel, 1993 Stampa, Basel, 1994 Nachkrieg-Vorkrieg (Was Fehlt), Stampe, Basel, 1992 Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, 1995 Verwandschaften, Galerie Espace, Amsterdam, 1991 Verwandschaften, Stampa, Basel, 1990 Verwandschaften, Art Frankfurt, 1990 Verwandschaften, Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1990 Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1988 Van de Loo, Munich, 1988 Lesen in Staub, Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, 1988 Lesen in Staub, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, 1988 Lesen in Staub/Weibliche Monate, Kunstverein Hannover, 1988 Musée Rath, Geneva, 1988 Lesen in Staub/Strategische Orte, Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf, 1987 Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, 1987 Galerie Vorsetzen, Hamberg, 1987 Stampa, Basel, 1987 Strategische Orte, DAAD, Berlin, 1986 Strategische Orte, Stampa, Basel, 1986 Strategische Orte, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, and Kunstmuseum, Bonn, 1985 Strategische Orte, Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1985 Das Klassische Lieben, Musée la Chaux-de-Fonds, 1984 Das Klassische Lieben, Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna, 1984 Das Klassische Lieben, Stampa, Basel, 1984 Das Klassische Lieben, Kunsthalle Basel, 1983 Wach Raum 1, Konrad Fischer, Zurich, 1982 Stampa, Basel, 1977, 1979, 1981
Selected group exhibitions
Selected group exhibitions
Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany, 2017 21st Sydney Biennal, 2018 Prière de toucher – Le tactile dans l'art, Museum Tinguely, Basel, 2016 Module mai, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2010 Sammlung Van de Loo, Neue National galerie Berlin, 2004 Where Is Abel, Your Brother?, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, 1995 From Beyond the Pale, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 1994 Centre d'Art Contemporian, Geneva, 1994 Zur Sache Selbst, Künstlerinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts Museum, Wiesbaden, 1990 Triennal de Dibuix, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1989 Sydney Biennal, 1986 Crosscurrents in Swiss Art, Serpentine Gallery, London, 1984 Documenta, Kassel, Germany, 1982 Feministische Kunst International, Frauenzimmer, Basel, 1979 Claudia Martínez Garay and Miriam Cahn: Ten Thousand Things, Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2020
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1949
Miriam Cahn born at Basel.
Reception and awards
Jörg Scheller describes Cahn as a "feminist who likes to fight." Her work has been the source of some controversy, including in 2023, when several French far-right associations petitioned to have Cahn's fuck abstraction! removed from the "My Serial Thought" show at the Palais de Tokyo, claiming the painting depicted "pedo-pornographic" material. France's State Council rejected the appeal and allowed the painting, which abstractly depicted the Bucha massacre by Russian troops. In 1998, Cahn won the Käthe Kollwitz Prize awarded by the Academy of Arts, Berlin. In 2024, Cahn received the Goslarer Kaiserring.
Collections
Cahn's works can be found in numerous art collections around the world, among others at MoMA in New York, at the Tate Modern in London, at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Foster, Alicia. Tate women artists. Tate. 186–187. 2004. 978-1-85437-311-3.
- 2.Miriam Cahn. Palais De Tokyo.
- 3.Cahn, Miriam. Oxford Art Online.
- 4.PEDRERO, Agnès. Jewish artist to pull works from Swiss museum over Nazi-era collection. The Times of Israel. 0040-7909.
- 5.Expo à Paris : "Insupportable, décrochez ça": Un tableau d'une artiste suisse fait un tollé. 20 minutes. 7 March 2023.
- 6.Constat d'Huissier au Palais de Tokyo pour une abominable toile de Miriam Cahn – Karl Zéro. YouTube. 7 March 2023.
- 7.Cunningham, Peter. Feministische Kunst Internationaal: A Review. Oxford Art Journal. 3. 1. 83–84. April 1980. 10.1093/oxartj/3.1.83.
- 8.Priscilla Frank (3 September 2012) "Swiss Painter Miriam Cahn On Her Upcoming Exhibition 'Lachen Bei Gefahr' At Badischer Kunstverein, Germany", Huffington Post (Arts & Culture). Retrieved 18 June 2013.
- 9.Halle, Howard. Review: Miriam Cahn Art reviews, guides, things to do, film – Time Out New York. Time Out New York. 9 March 2011.
- 10.Scheller, Jorg. Miriam Cahn's Fragmented Bodies. Frieze. 7. 9 November 2012.
- 11.Lauter, Devorah. A Court Has Ruled That a Controversial Miriam Cahn Painting, Targeted by Far-Right Censors, Can Remain Hanging at the Palais de Tokyo. ArtNet News. 14 April 2023.
- 12.Goslarer Kaiserring 2024 geht an Künstlerin Miriam Cahn. Tagesschau (German TV programme). 12 January 2024.
- 13.Ma pensée sérielle – Palais de Tokyo.
- 14.Miriam Cahn. www.documenta14.de.
- 15.Hillstrom, Laurie Collier. Contemporary women artists. St. James Press. 1 January 1999. 1-55862-372-8.
- 16.Where the Andes Meets the Alps: Miriam Cahn and Claudia Martínez Garay in Nanjing. ocula.com. 7 January 2021.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q530599: Miriam CahnWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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