Karin Kneffel

Karin Kneffel is a prominent contemporary German painter known for her Photorealist style.

Biography of Karin Kneffel

Karin Kneffel was born in 1957, in Marl, Germany. She studied German philology and philosophy at the Westfälischen Wilhelmsuniversität Münster and the Gesamthochschule Duisburg from 1977 to 1981.

She later enrolled at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where she studied under Johannes Brus, Norbert Tadeusz, and Gerhard Richter. Kneffel's association with Richter, particularly, has had a lasting influence on her work.

Throughout her career, Kneffel has held several notable teaching positions, including visiting professorships at the Academy of the Arts in Bremen and the Island Academy of the Arts in Reykjavik. She has been a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich since 2008.

Kneffel's work has been widely exhibited in solo and group exhibitions. Her solo shows have been held at various venues worldwide, including Museum Küppersmühle in Bonn, Galerie Schönewald in Düsseldorf, Gagosian Gallery in Rome, Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese in Berlin, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle in Munich, and many more.

Karin Kneffel’s Art Style

Karin Kneffel's paintings are characterized by their hyper-realistic, Photorealist style. Her works often blend everyday scenes with historical, narrative, or hallucinogenic undertones. Kneffel draws inspiration from the established legacy of painting, aiming to create something new and fresh. 

Her rich and expressive oil paintings intricately blend disparate places and events into meticulously crafted impossibilities. Whether drawn from personal recollections or art history, her precisely detailed still lifes and interior scenes skillfully explore the representational capabilities of painting while highlighting its inherent fictional essence. Through layering and reinterpreting events, locations, and objects, Kneffel imagines enigmatic multidimensional realms, inviting viewers into a contemplative exploration of the intricate interplay between image, space, and time.