Ma gouvernante - My Nurse - Mein Kindermädchen
Artist
Meret Oppenheim
(Schweiz, 1913 - 1985)
Alternate Title
- Min guvernant
Date1936/1967
MediumMetal plate, shoes, string, paper
Dimensions14 x 33 x 21 cm
Classification
Countries
Credit LineInköp 1967 med bidrag från Moderna Museets Vänner
On view
StockholmRoomGallery 01:6
Object NumberNMSK 1972
CollectionsMaterialitet, Moderna Museets Vänner
About the artworkA pair of trussed white pumps are served on a silver plate. The heels are adorned with white paper ruffles of the kind formerly used for chicken or lamb chops at fancy dinners. In surrealist works such as this, objects that don’t “belong together” are often combined, like in dreams. The surrealists were interested in dreams, sexuality and urges, influenced by Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, which was new at the time. Shoes can also be seen as a fetish, an ordinary object that is charged with sexual meaning. Several of Meret Oppenheim’s works concern the construction of “femininity”. In that perspective, the string around the shoes can be read as a symbol of how roles are forced upon women. Ma gouvernante – My Nurse – Mein Kindermädchen is the artist’s own title. Oppenheim has said that the white shoes brought back memories of a childhood nanny.
Description
Replik utförd 1967
Selected exhibition history
Meret Oppenheim (1967)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Surrealism? (1970)
Göteborgs Konsthall
Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Samlingsutställning 2019-2022 (den 1 februari 2019 - den 27 augusti 2023)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Givet av MMV (1972)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Moderna Museet c/o Bildmuseet - Dada och surrealism (2003)
Bildmuseet, Umeå
Moderna Museet c/o Malmö Konsthall (2003)
Malmö Konsthall
Mästerverken åter. Verk av spanska konstnärer ur Samling S. runt den återbördade Picassos Källan. (1995)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Moderna Museets samling i ny presentation (1998-2000)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Supersurrealismen (den 29 september 2012 - den 27 januari 2013)
Moderna Museet Malmö
Den underjordiska himlen. Surrealism i Moderna Museets samling (den 26 oktober 2024 - den 17 januari 2027)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Internationell Surrealism (1998)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Meret Oppenheim 2004 (2004)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues
Surrealism? : [Moderna Museet, Stockholm : 6 mars - 12 april 1970]Meret Oppenheim : [Moderna Museet : 15 april - 21 maj 1967]Mästerverken åter! Moderna Museet, Spårvagnshallarna : [6 maj - 27 augusti 1995]Givet av Moderna Museets vänner : [Moderna Museet : 22.1 - 13.2 1972]Meret Oppenheim: Moderna Museet [4.9-31.10] 2004The Masterpieces are back! : Moderna Museet, Spårvagnshallarna : [May 6th - August 27th 1995]Moderna Museet c/o Malmö Konsthall : [Malmö Konsthall : 8 februari - 4 maj 2003]
Bibliography
Linde, Ulf, Dagens Nyheter, 21/4 1967.
Liedholm, Alf, Uppsala Nya Tidning, 12/5 1967.
Edgren, Lennart "Munnen full av hår", Nerikes Allehanda, 17/6 1967.
von Holten, Ragnar, "Till följd av en pälskopp", Svenska Dagbladet, 5/3 1983.
Moderna Museet, annons, Dagens Nyheter, 19/4 1993.
Mundy, Jennifer (red.), Surrealism Unbound, London 2001, s. 45.
La Révolution Surrealiste, Paris 2002, ill. s 271.
Taube, Maria, Kärleken och döden: Konst på Moderna Museet, Stockholm 2002, s 50, ill. s 51.
Spies, Werner m fl, Surrealismus 1919-1944, Düsseldorf 2002, ill. s 281.
Wiklund, Malin, These Boots Aren't Made for Walking, c-uppsats i Konstvetenskap vid Stockholms universitet, VT 05.