Miriam Cahn *

(born in Basel in 1949)
Unklar, 1996, signed and dated on the overlap, oil on canvas, 100 x 60 cm, framed
Provenance:
Meyer Riegger GmbH
Private Collection, Germany (acquired at the above)

Miriam Cahn is an internationally renowned Swiss artist whose work deals intensively with
violence, war, vulnerability, and human existence. The painting 'Unklar' (Unclear) dated in 1996 is an outstanding example of Cahn’s artistic approach, in which figures often appear shadowy, ghostly, and in barely defined spaces. Through her painting, Miriam Cahn opens up a new understanding of the staging of femininity. Shaped by her participation in political and social discourse, the human body has been at the center of her work since her early years.

The female figure, silhouetted against a dark background, fixes the viewer with an intense gaze and deeply shadowed eyes. Detached and floating defenselessly, the nude appears before a diffuse space. Using a reduced, luminous palette, Cahn addresses existential states of vulnerability and presence. The work 'Unklar' belongs to independent works with the same title, in which the central question of the human body as a projection surface for internal tensions is explored. The 'unclear' refers to the fleeting nature of memories, the fragility of bodies, and the indeterminacy of traumatic experiences. 'Unklar' is not a single series in the traditional sense, but rather a recurring motif, a title for specific works, or a reference to a thematic aspect of her artistic inquiry in which the dividing line between subjective and objective reality is questioned.

MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main holds works by her that feature 'unklar' in the title, including an oil painting also from 1996. Works from this thematic spectrum were also exhibited at documenta 14 in Kassel in 2017.