Paula Modersohn-Becker: Ich Bin Ich / I Am Me

Exhibition at the Neue Galerie, New York, 6 June - 9 September 2024

A major figure in the history of German Expressionism, Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907) produced over 700 paintings and more than 1,000 drawings in her short career. She boldly experimented with different styles while resolutely seeking out the truth of everyday life and her own experience as a woman, and is renowned for the many self-portraits she produced, including the first nude self-portraits by a woman.

The artist became known in part through her letters and diaries, particularly her correspondence with her close friend, the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, to whom she wrote: "And now I don't know how to sign my name. I am not Modersohn and I am no longer Paula Becker, I am Moi, and I hope to become more and more so.

This exhibition catalogue looks at the work of a pioneering artist who subverted convention in her daring depictions of the nude, her self-portraits and her still lifes. It reveals the deeply personal and authentic work of an artist who resolutely forged her own path. Iconoclastic in her time, Modersohn-Becker is today considered an icon of modernity.