Meret Oppenheim - the “Nurse” of Avant-garde Artists

Entitled Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition, a retrospective of Meret Oppenheim’s lifelong career is on display at The Museum of Modern Art, New York until March 4th, 2023. Thus, I figured that this is the right time to discuss her artistic career in terms of prostitution. Reputed as the only female artist among the influential Surrealists, she gained fame for being the “nurse” of avant-garde artists. Harnessing the power of female sexuality, she created erotic assemblages that explored the theme of fantasies about dominance and submission. 

Installation view of Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition,
on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York
October 30, 2022 – March 4, 2023.

 One of artworks on display: 
X-Ray of M.O.’s Skull, 

1964/1981, Gelatin silver print

Topics Covered

• Surrealists, Avant-garde Artists, and Oppenheim
• Prostitution: Relationship Demands an Exchange
• Artworks: Object - a Luncheon in Fur, My Nurse

Surrealists, Avant-garde Artists, and Oppenheim

Originally from Switzerland, Oppenheim grew up in a progressive and intellectual family. Her father, a psychoanalyst and a friend of Carl Jung, and her grandmother, an illustrator, and author encouraged her to pursue art as a career. Oppenheim moved to Paris and enrolled at Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1932. Her artistic career began when she befriended later-renowned artists at the capital of European avant-garde. In her school, she befriended Cubist painter Picasso, Existentialist sculptor Giacometti and abstract sculptor Hans Arp, who was twice her age. They introduced her to a group of influential Surrealists: André Breton the theorist, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, and Max Ernst.

Surrealists focused on portraying the unconscious with erotically charged images. One of the theories that form the basis of surrealist ideology is psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud, the influential founder of psychoanalysis, claimed that libido, sexual instinct, and directing it to productive activity are crucial to the advancement of individuals and civilization. Following his idea, Surrealists set libido as one of the main themes of their works and directed their sexual energy to create artwork. Despite its magnificence, surrealist artworks overtly displayed sexual desire, regarded as a shame in a civilized society. Thus, Surrealists had to bear derision from the public. As a remedy, they needed a female surrealist to “heal” their wounded mind and create artworks of the “healing” experience for public consumption.

Salvador Dali, 
Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, 1944

Max Ernst, The Robing of the Bride, 1940

Rene Magritte, Philosopher's Lamp, 1936

Prostitution: Relationship Demands an Exchange

Charged with ambition, Oppenheim was an ideal woman to take up the role of the female surrealist. Surrealists admired her beauty, youth, and rebellious attitude and welcomed her to join their group to take advantage of her sexually. She was aware of their intention and agreed. Surrealists regarded her as a quintessential embodiment of the movement. As a muse of the movement, she inspired and entertained Surrealists by dearly caressing them and served as a model for their artworks.

Man Ray, Erotique Voilée, 1933, Vintage contact silver print

Avant-garde photographer Man Ray was particularly impressed by the artist. Mesmerized by her magnetic charisma, he studied her by documenting her youthful beauty in his photos. "Erotique Voilée" was one of a series of photographs featuring her. In the series, the naked female surrealist poses elegantly with a printing press. a printing press, which records history, represents a trap that the female artist and the rest of the avant-garde artists were caught in.

During her active period, women’s roles in the art world were limited to muses and lovers. Unlike the rest of the women, she won the title of a surrealist artist by creating proofs of physical intimacy with avant-garde artists. Those proofs were surrealist objects, modified domestic objects as physical manifestations of internal desire and aspiration. Surrealist objects assembled by the artist were included in the Surrealist exhibition in 1933 and 1936.

Artwork 1: Object – a Luncheon in Fur

Avant-garde artists who had sex with her are impossible to trace, but a clue that she had quite a lot of partners exists. In the Surrealist object exhibition at Charles Ratton Gallery in 1936, Object, a fetishistic assemblage, debuted adjacent to Marcel Duchamp’s Bottle Rack, a tiered metal structure with sprockets meant to hold drying glass bottles. The female surrealist achieved widespread acclaim through the exhibition.

Object, 1936, Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon

 Marcel Duchamp, Bottle Rack, 1914, Bare bottle rack

Object features a teacup with a saucer covered in the fur of Chinese gazelle. A teacup implies tea time, where a teapot pours tea into tea cups. Tea time suggests group sex, where one female, a teapot, pours warmth and pleasure to several males, tea cups. Yet, the audience might not understand its meaning when it is displayed without any cues. The placement of the Bottle Rack next to the teacup sets the conclusion that the artwork is portraying group sex, as sprockets resemble and therefore represent erected reproductive organs of males. The rack is dark in color, as they are aroused and motivated by dark intentions: power, indulgence, and pleasure. The structure of the rack implies the female surrealist had more than one group of artists who engaged in the lascivious ritual. Bottle Rack is ready-made by Marcel Duchamp, a pioneer of Dada. Duchamp, as a representative of avant-garde artists who engaged in the erotic ritual with the female surrealist, turned a bottle rack into a ready-made object that reflected their sexual desire for feminine beauty. Thus, the Object represents the sex partners of Oppenheim among male avant-garde artists. The teacup is covered in fur, as an implication of the social standing of the artists.

Artwork 2: My Nurse

My Nurse, 1936, A pair of bound high heels, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

My Nurse was one of the surrealist objects that represented the body of the artist, an emblem of surrealism. The object features a pair of bound high heels decorated with paper frills like a trussed chicken, presented on a silver tray. The object full of latent eroticism resembles two things. To begin with, It looks like a whole chicken ready to be shared. A whole chicken implies group sex, where the food is shared by several partners. Secondly, the rounded heels look like buttocks, evoking the image of a bound woman on her back, with her legs spread apart. The binding, graphically showing the relationship of dominance and submission, conjures up a scene of the group sex between the female surrealist and avant-garde artists. The movement of the artist is passively reduced by her partners. In contrast, her partners, infatuated by her beauty, avidly indulge in her sexual charms. The filthy sole of the high heels suggests she became well-acquainted with the touch of her partners’ hands.

Thank you for finish reading the article. This article is the first case study on group sex prostitution in the art world. To view the complete list of cases, please direct to the linked article. 

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