Cornelia Schleime

Born in East Berlin in 1953, Cornelia Schleime works in various mediums: painting, drawing, photography, film, performance, music and literature. In 1981 she was banned from exhibiting and in 1984 she was finally allowed to leave for the West, but only with the condition that her work was left behind, and has since been considered lost. Cornelia Schleime settled in West Berlin and became known above all for her expressive oil paintings of women's portraits. Women are the central motif in Cornelia Schleime's oeuvre. Today, Cornelia Schleime is one of the most important contemporary German artists, as numerous honours attest, including the Gabriele Münter and Fred Thieler Prizes.