Irène Zurkinden

A solo exhibition dedicated to Swiss artist Irène Zurkinden (1909–1987), highlighting a personal body of work centered on portraits and self-portraits. About Coinciding with Kunsttage Basel, this August we present a solo exhibition dedicated to the work of Swiss artist Irène Zurkinden (1909 – 1987) at our Basel gallery. Zurkinden defied easy categorisation, developing a distinctive painterly language that drew on both Surrealism and Neo-Impressionism. Known for commissioned portraits of Basel society, the presentation highlights a more intimate body of work centered on portraits and self-portraits, offering a deeply personal perspective on Zurkinden's life and experiences. Born in Basel in 1909, Zurkinden initially trained to become a fashion illustrator, before moving to Paris in 1929 to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. There, she embraced the city's liberated culture and became a part of its vibrant artistic milieu, cultivating a social circle that included Salvador Dalí, Man Ray and Kiki de Montparnasse. In 1932, Zurkinden convinced her friend, Meret Oppenheim, to join her in Paris, setting in motion a chain of events that led to the creation of Oppenheim's iconic 'Object (Le déjeuner en fourrure)' (1936). One of Zurkinden's many portraits of Oppenheim appears in the exhibition, alongside depictions of friends including the artist Lotti Kraus, the dancer Marie-Eve Kreis and the Argentine-British painter Eileen Agar. Zurkinden, an extraordinarily gifted portraitist, moved easily between the commissions she created for wealthy Swiss families and the more personal canvases on view in Basel, contrasting the studied neutrality of the former with the rich interiority captured in the latter. Other works, such as 'Vally' (1946), reflect the artist's fascination with the female form, imbued with strength and sensuality. Radical in the context of mid-century Switzerland and progressive even by liberal standards of the time, Zurkinden pursued romantic relationships with both men and women and later embarked on a decade-long relationship with the German Afro-Brazilian jazz musician Kurt Fenster, with whom she had two children. Read more Toggle Painting Drawing