Bettina Semmer became known in the 1980s in the context of the “Neue Wilden.” Against the background of an art scene still dominated at that time almost exclusively by men, she created paintings and films and also developed interventions. Already back then, her oeuvre involved the investigation of (not only) female corporeality, an orientation which continues to characterize her oeuvre right up to the present. She thematizes eroticism and sexuality with a consistent orientation towards psychological and political aspects as well. And she repeatedly turns her attention to traumatic experiences and their physical effects.

This first comprehensive monograph dedicated to Bettina Semmer directs a central focus towards her artistic and above all her painterly production. A detailed, current essay by Ludwig Seyfarth examines the “body images” in her oeuvre. Various other texts going as far back as the 1980s, some of them now reappearing and others being published for the first time, document different facets in the reception of her complex oeuvre. More than 175 illustrations present works from five decades.