OLGA OPPENHEIMER: Marking the 140th birthday of a neglected artist
She was a pioneer of modern art in the Rhineland—and yet she was forgotten.
To mark the 140th anniversary of her birth, the Cologne City Museum is honoring the Cologne-based artist Olga Oppenheimer and her extraordinary yet tragic life.
Olga Oppenheimer (1886–1941) grew up in Cologne in a Jewish household that encouraged her artistic curiosity and development from an early age. As a co-founder of the Gereonsklub, she became a driving force behind Expressionism in the Rhineland and created a platform in Cologne for artists such as Marc, van Gogh, and Kandinsky. Her own paintings, woodcuts, and drawings were exhibited at major international exhibitions between 1910 and 1913.
World War I, personal losses, and a severe mental illness led to the abrupt end of her artistic career. In 1918, Olga Oppenheimer was admitted to a psychiatric hospital; in 1941, she was murdered as part of the Nazi “euthanasia” crimes. Only fragments of her work have survived.
Only now are her work and her creative output coming back into sharper focus.
All events related to the new OPEN SPACE
All events are free of charge.
Sat., May 23 & Aug. 15, 2:00 p.m.
Curator-led tour: “Olga Oppenheimer – A Life in Fragments” (with Dr. Markus Jansen)
Thu., July 9, 3:30 p.m.
Guided tour of the permanent exhibition and OPEN SPACE: “Pioneers from Olga Oppenheimer to Agrippina” (Cologne Museum Service)
(Admission to permanent exhibition: €5, reduced €3)
Thu, July 9, starting at 6 p.m.
An Evening for Olga Oppenheimer: Special program marking the 140th anniversary of her birth, featuring discussions and new perspectives
Thu., July 23 & Sept. 3, 6:00 p.m.
Urban walking tour: “In the Footsteps of Olga Oppenheimer and Other Female Artists & Patrons around 1900” (with Irene Franken, Cologne Women’s History Association)
Meeting point: Gereonshaus, Gereonstraße 18
Thu., Aug. 27, 6 p.m.
Lecture & discussion: “No Longer Nameless. The Victims of Nazi Medical Crimes in the Rhineland and the Case of Olga Oppenheimer” (with Dr. Keywan Klaus Münster / Dr. Helmut Rönz, LVR Institute for Regional Studies and History)
Fri., Sept. 4, 6 p.m.
Reading & Discussion: “The Women Artists’ Club” – Olga Oppenheimer and Emmy Worringer (with author Hanka Meves)
Thu, Sept. 10, 6 p.m.
Lecture & Discussion: “Avant-garde Artist and Trailblazer – Olga Oppenheimer and Modernism in the Rhineland” (with Dr. Barbara Scheuermann, Kunstmuseum Bonn)