Maria Lassnig

From a young age, Maria Lassnig explored the depiction of the human figure, particularly in self-portraits. Her focus was not on the body’s outward appearance, but rather on the perception of it. Through her concept, later termed ​“Körpergefühlsmalerei” or ​“Body Awareness,” she sought to make physical sensations and inner states visible.

This introspective approach is evident in the paintings on display. Lassnig developed the forms of Violettes Monster (Violet Monster) through the ​“translation of bodily sensations onto a surface,” as she once described her working process. In interplay with the external view, facial features emerged that Lassnig identified as monstrous in the work’s title. Thus, the work corresponds to Lassnig’s artistic method of translating non-visual, physically anchored self-perceptions into the image. The depicted creature has no eyes, just like the figure in the work Das optische Zeitalter (The Optical Age). Here, the issue of seeing is explicitly addressed: a naked figure holds a single eye tensely above itself, in a gesture that oscillates between presentation and tension. Seeing appears as a physically experiential act.

The later work Selbstportrait mit Sprechblase (Self-Portrait with Speech Bubble) can also be interpreted within the context of ​“body-sensation painting,” though it expands this concept to include an additional sensory dimension. The speech bubble visualizes the immaterial; language or sound is transformed into a pictorial form. The head, depicted in profile, is simultaneously a body, a fact emphasized by the legs hinted at on the right side of the image.

Das optische Zeitalter, 1985 – 1986
Oil on canvas
98,5 × 75 cm

Selbstportrait mit Sprechblase, 2006
Oil on canvas
207,5 × 154 cm

Violettes Monster, 1964
Oil on canvas
60 × 50 cm, framed 61,5 × 51,1 × 3,8 cm

All works Courtesy Maria Lassnig Foundation, Vienna