MONIKA BAER

Kölnischer Kunstverein
Cologne, Germany

Feb 27 – May 3, 2026

This spring, Kölnischer Kunstverein will devote a solo exhibition to the recent work of Monika Baer, whose disarming subversions of her chosen medium have made her one of the most challenging painters working today.

From the museum:

“Few artists achieve work of such consistent tension. It is as if a flaming torch were passed on from series to series. Or as if skin were stretched particularly tightly over the bones of each canvas. It is a tension which has developed from the painterly postulates which Monika Baer has unfolded over the past thirty years. Without compromise, Baer has created a body of work which flows free from all currents. Her visual language thus appears timeless yet is strongly connected to the present.

Defection presents Baer’s most recent works. They are shown in proximity to a previously developed suite of paintings of coats, left behind on ledges or in crevices. Both series negotiate shallow space, with their underlying dimensions remaining closed or enigmatic. The eye that scans the surfaces’ obsessive detail may pick up a trail, but cannot pursue it to the end.”

Curated by Valérie Knoll

To learn more, visit the museum's website.