Images depicting women have always mainly been projections of male artists. Maria or muse? Paragon of virtue or femme fatale? For centuries the image of women in art oscillated between such stereotypical ideas: The image of the woman results from a male perspective. The stereotypes formed by social structures, visible in art by the Old Masters, have survived through works by Pierre Bonnard and Félix Vallotton until well into the 20th century. Only a few images by female artists challenged them. Since the 1960s, this discrepancy has begun to change. As a counterpart to the flat role assignments, contemporary artists such as Pipilotti Rist, Sylvie Fleury and Candice Breitz have made decisive contributions to the creation of a new concept of women.

In the exhibition, proud bourgeois women encounter lascivious nude models in an exciting dialogue – intertwined with radical interventions by contemporary female artists.

Curators: Konrad Bitterli, Andrea Lutz