Christa Dichgans

„Before living in an exterior world, we live in an interior world.” Christa Dichgans

Dichgans, born in 1940 in Berlin and raised in Düsseldorf, studied with Fred Thieler among others, and moved to New York in the 1960s on invitation from the DAAD. She was one of the pioneering female figures of Pop Art with her meticulously expressive still lifes of mountains of toys and mass-produced goods. During her stay in New York, the artist selected a toy for her son from a pile at the Salvation Army. This moment served as the catalyst for her lifelong artistic practice, rooted in social critique and realism.

Dichgans’ works are included in several institutional collections including Kunstmuseum Bonn; Museum Ludwig, Köln; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Sammlung des Deutschen Bundestages, Berlin; Staatiche Graphische Sammlung München among others. She has been included in prominent exhibitions on Pop Art all around Europe, such as “Amazons of Pop” (MAMAC, Nice in 2020; Kunsthalle Kiel in 2022; and Kunsthaus Graz in 2023), “Power Up – Female Pop Art” at the Kunsthalle Wien (2010/2011) and “German Pop” at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2014).


born 1940 in Berlin, Germany

died 2018 in Berlin, Germany 

selected solo exhibitions


2023

Christa Dichgans – Paul McCarthy, Innocent Games? Face to Face and Side by Side #9,

Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

Robert, Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, Germany


2019

Christa Dichgans, Galerie Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany

2018

Kein Stillleben, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany


2017

Plüschtieroper, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany

2015

Bestandsaufnahme, Köppe Contemporary, Berlin, Germany


2011      

Postskriptum, Galerie für moderne Fotografie, Berlin, Germany

Stiftung St. Matthäus, Berlin, Germany

2010

Spielzeugbilder 1967-77, Galerie Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany


2006

King Kong Kisses, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany


2000

Zum 60 – Bilder, Galerie Poll, Berlin, Germany


1997

Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany


1995

Balschug Hotel, Goethe Institut, Moscow, Russia

Musée d’Art Moderne, Nice, France


1992      

Bilder 1964 – 1991, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany


1985

Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim, Germany

Städtische Galerie, Viersen, Germany


1984

Galerie Hans Neuendorf, Hamburg, Germany

Raab Galerie, Berlin, Germany

1978

Arte Fiera 78, Bologna, Italy


1977 

Christa Dichgans – Unsere Welt : Bilder 1973 – 1977, Galerie Rudolf Springer, Berlin, Germany


1975

Lerner Heller Gallery, New York, USA

Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, Germany

1972

Christa Dichgans : Bilder 1967 – 1972, Galerie Springer, Berlin, Germany

selected group exhibitions 


2025

The Cute Escape: Empathie, Empowerment, Empfindsamkeit, Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany

2024

Dreams of an Owl, Who the Bær and the Wounded Planet, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany


2022

Peeping Tom, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany    

Ein Ding für sich allein. Skulpturen aus der Sammlung des Schloßmuseums Murnau, Germany

Sausage Party, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium

Amazons of Pop! Künstlerinnen, Superheldinnen, Ikonen 1961-1973, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany (toured to Kunsthaus Graz afterwards) 


2021

City’s, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany 


2020 

Les Amazones du Pop: She Bam Pow POP WIZZ!, MAMAC, Nice, France


2019

Für Christa, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany


2018

Wohin das Auge reicht – As Far as the Eye Can See, Museum Würth, Künzelsau, Germany

2017

History of Art, Raab Galerie, Berlin, Germany

History of Art, JRGallery, Berlin, Germany

2016

Sammlung Hussong – Alle 600 Holzpostkarten, Schloss Corvey, Höxter, Germany


2014

German Pop, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Lieber Künstler, zeichne mir! – Part 2 – Figuration, Illustration, Notation und Zeichen, Semjon Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

 4 X 4, Stephan Friedman Gallery, London, United Kingdom


2012

Aufbruch Realismus – Die neue Wirklichkeit im Bild nach ’68, Kunsthalle Vogelmann, Heilbronn, Germany


2011

Power Up Female Pop Art, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany


2010

Power Up Female Pop Art, Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquatier, Vienna, Austria

2009

kratzen – ätzen – pressen, XYLON – Museum + Werkstätten e.V. 


1991

Interferenzen: Kunst aus Westberlin: 1960 – 1990, Latvian National Museum of Arts,

Riga, Latvia

1989

Art in Berlin 1815 – 1989, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, USA


1986

Berlin Aujour D’Hui, Musée d’Art de Toulon, Toulon, France


1985

Group Exhibition, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands


1984

Zukunfsträume, Orangerie Karslaue, Kassel, Germany, Städtische Galerie, Palais

Stuterheim, Erlangen, Germany; Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria


1983                                                                                             

Mensch und Landschaft in der zeitgenössischen Malerei und Grafik in der

Bundesrepublik, Moscow, Russia; Lenningrand, Russia, Nowosibirks, Russia          

All Over, Städtisches Museum Schloss Hardenberg, Velbert, Germany


1979

Malerei in Berlin 1970 bis heute, Städtisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany


1978

Museum des Geldes, Düsseldorfer Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany

International Exhibition of Art – Promoting Posters, Tel Aviv, Israel

Deutscher Künstlerbund-Ausstellung, Berlin, Germany


1977

Neuerwerbungen, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Manscape, Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, USA

Zur Kunstförderung in Deutschland, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany

Villa Romana Florenz, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany


1971      

Villa Romana, Florence, Italy


1970

Atuel Kunst fra Vesterblin, Pa Genthofte Radhuos, Copenhagen, Denmark

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