Charline von Heyl
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Biography
Born 1960 in Mainz, Germany
Lives and works in New York and Marfa
Charline von Heyl’s abstract paintings, drawings and collages are endlessly layered, enigmatic visual experiences filled with surprising juxtapositions and interactions. Her work resolutely strives against maintaining a cohesive narrative or signature style, but instead is fearless in its formal diversity. It requires active perception and participation to take in her bold lines and gestures, and abstract shapes and patterns. Her configurations possess a unique dynamism and energy, imbued with flashes of humour but simultaneously unafraid of poetic depth and pathos.
Embodied in von Heyl’s work are series of experiences and emotions, often opposing to create an intriguing sense of contradiction and tension. They impart to the viewer an unpredictable chain of associations and subtle references. Her canvases are as thoughtful and cerebral as they are aesthetically balanced, with their bold but harmonious colour palettes and their almost printed, two-dimensional quality.
Von Heyl is a highly regarded figure in contemporary painting and abstract expressionism, and her work has been shown extensively internationally. Charline von Heyl has had solo shows at The George Economou Collection, Athens; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Tate Liverpool; Kunsthalle Nürnberg; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Le Consortium, Dijon; Dallas Museum of Art; Vienna Secession and many more. Her works were featured in the exhibition The Milk of Dreams, curated by Cecilia Alemani, at the 2022 Venice Biennale.
Von Heylʼs work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Modern, London; Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musée dʼArt Moderne de Paris; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington; Kunstmuseum Bonn; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, among others.
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I have always been a sucker for the look of prints and have often faked that look in my paintings, so maybe it makes sense that I am using printing techniques now in the same way that I paint, so that one cannot follow the steps.
- Charline von Heyl
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Works
Charline von Heyl
Titan Arum, 2024Acrylic, charcoal and oil on linenSigned and dated verso152.4 x 127 x 3.8 cm
60 x 50 x 1.5 inchesB-CVONHEYL-.25-0001Further images
'Titan Arum' is emblematic of Charline von Heyl’s pivot toward works combining bold stroke, vivid color, energetic mark-making (charcoal, paint), and a push-pull between abstraction, with hints of figuration. The...'Titan Arum' is emblematic of Charline von Heyl’s pivot toward works combining bold stroke, vivid color, energetic mark-making (charcoal, paint), and a push-pull between abstraction, with hints of figuration. The title’s reference to the enormous corpse-flower, notorious for its dramatic bloom and odor, suggests attention to extremes, both in visual intensity and temporal unfolding. In this work, contrasts of luminosity, gestural sweeps, and sculptural depth in paint weave a dynamic field.
Von Heyl’s major survey exhibition 'Giddy Road to Ruin' is currently on view at the George Economou Collection, Athens, which spans several decades of her work and includes her most recent pieces.Exhibitions-
Sweet Sixteen
Celebrating 16 years of Capitain Petzel 7 June — 3 August 2024On the occasion of Capitain Petzel’s sixteenth anniversary, the gallery is excited to present Sweet Sixteen , a group exhibition celebrating the artists who have been integral to its program...Explore -
omelette papier
15 January — 5 March 2022Karla Black, Andrea Bowers, Joe Bradley, Isabella Ducrot, Jadé Fadojutimi, Hadi Fallahpisheh, Anna Gaskell, Georgia Gardner Gray, Stefanie Heinze, Charline von Heyl, Sanya Kantarovsky, Maria Lassnig, Marcel Odenbach, Pieter Schoolwerth,...Explore -
Seven-Up
An art fair presentation 24 October — 7 November 2020Capitain Petzel is pleased to announce Seven-Up , a presentation of works by seven artists initially conceived to be shown at this year's FIAC at the Grand Palais in Paris....Explore -
Charline von Heyl
28 April — 3 June 2017Capitain Petzel is pleased to announce its second solo exhibition of new works by Charline von Heyl. „Work, he thought, is something in which material is next to nothing, structure...Explore
External ExhibitionsCharline von Heyl: The Giddy Road to Ruin, 2025-26.
The George Economou Collection, Athens
News-
Charline von Heyl
'Charline von Heyl', auroras, São Paulo
June 14 – September 19, 2026 14 June 2026In her first exhibition in Brazil, Charline von Heyl presents fifteen recent paintings at Auroras in São Paulo. Since the 1990s, Charline von Heyl (b....Read more -
Andrea Bowers, Charline von Heyl, Maria Lassnig, Laura Owens, Amy Sillman
'Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection' (Group Show), National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), Washington, D.C.
February 27 – July 26, 2026 27 February 2026Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection brings together approximately 80 works by nearly 70 of the most influential artists of the 20th...Read more -
Charline von Heyl, Laura Owens
'To My Best Friend' (Group Show), ICA Boston | Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston
January 23 – December 31, 2026 23 January 2026To My Best Friend celebrates art and artists, reflecting the ICA’s history of presenting leading contemporary voices and the past two decades of building a...Read more -
Charline von Heyl, Maria Lassnig, Laura Owens, Amy Sillman
'Flesh Flowers' (Group Show), Aïshti Foundation, Beirut
October 27, 2025 – October 30, 2026 27 October 2025Flesh Flowers assembles the work of over seventy artists and more than two hundred pieces from the Tony and Elham Salamé Collection. Borrowing its title...Read more -
Georg Herold, Charline von Heyl, Amy Sillman, Laura Owens
'Long Story Short – An Art History from the Brandhorst Collection from the 1960s to the Present' (Group Show), Museum Brandhorst, Munich
October 23, 2025 – January 31, 2027 23 October 2025For the first time since its opening in 2009, Museum Brandhorst is devoting itself with Long Story Short to a chronological presentation of its collection....Read more
Press-
Two Coats of Paint: "Charline von Heyl’s audacious eclecticism"
Barbara A. MacAdam, 24 October 2023 -
The Brooklyn Rail: "Charline von Heyl"
Ekin Erkan, 3 October 2023 -
Interview Magazine: "Meet Eight Artists Reshaping the 59th Venice Biennale" (Charline von Heyl)
Christopher Bollen, 21 April 2022 -
New City Art: "Curiously Confounding: A Review of Charline von Heyl at Corbett vs. Dempsey"
Alan Pocaro, 10 February 2021 -
CULTURED MAG: "Charline von Heyl’s Paintings Treat Structure like a Game"
Gaby Collins-Fernandez, 9 April 2019 -
Die Zeit: "Charline von Heyl: Die Frau als Denkmaschine"
Lisa Zeitz, 8 July 2018
Publications-
Charline von Heyl
Snake Eyes, Koenig Books, London, 2019 2019 Read more -
Charline von Heyl
Düsseldorf: Paintings from the Early 90's, Petzel Gallery, New York, 2015 2015 Read more -
Charline von Heyl
Interventionist Demonstration (why-a-duck?), Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, 2014 2014Softcover, blind-embossed, 56 pagesRead more
Publisher: Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago
ISBN: 978-0-9896512-7-1 -
Charline von Heyl
Now or Else, Tate Liverpool, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, 2012 2012Hardcover, 130 pagesRead more
Publisher: Kerber Verlag, Berlin
ISBN: 978-3-86678-733-9
Dimensions: 23 × 29 cm -
Charline von Heyl
ICA Philadelphia, 2012 2012 Read more -
Charline von Heyl
Paintings 1990-2010, Le Consortium, 2009 2009Hardcover, 272 pagesRead more
Publisher: Les presses du réel
ISBN: 978-2-84066-417-8
Dimensions: 20 x 26 cm -
Charline von Heyl
Secession, Vienna, 2004 2004 Read more -
Charline von Heyl
Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, 1998 1998 Read more
