Katharina Wulff
Untitled, 2025
Oil on canvas in artist's frame
12 1/2 x 13 1/4 inches (32 x 34 cm)
The Ground Floor of Greene Naftali currently hosts Day and Night Before My Eyes, a compelling exhibition by Katharina Wulff that runs from March 12 through April 25, 2026.
This exhibition represents Wulff’s fourth solo presentation at the gallery and features a new body of work that further polishes the "elastic figuration" that has defined her career since she emerged in the 1990s as a leading figure among German painters.
Her unique artistic vocabulary skillfully blends a magnetic sense of beauty with jarring elements of the grotesque to create paintings that depict a haunting and often surreal reality.
The recent canvases are primarily populated by girls and women who appear in groups or in solitude, with the artist focusing heavily on their external physical presence while leaving their internal lives entirely undisclosed.
These seemingly tranquil scenes are frequently disrupted by unsettling details, such as physical bodies partially dissolving into the atmosphere or a disembodied bare leg intruding upon a peaceful forest picnic.
While her compositions are firmly rooted in empirical observation, they are heavily layered with memories of Wulff's own youth in East Berlin, utilizing rigid postures and averted gazes to capture the inherent awkwardness and complexity of adolescence.
Wulff’s heterodox style moves fluidly between disparate eras, referencing everything from Weimar-era laborers to the mall goths of the 1990s while maintaining a light touch regarding her art historical influences.
Her work draws inspiration from diverse figurative traditions, ranging from the dark and sophisticated narratives of Paula Rego to the sharp, urbane wit of Florine Stettheimer.
This sense of temporal flux also extends to her still-life paintings, where a Dutch Golden Age trompe l’oeil fly might be found resting next to a modern neon dog toy and a pomegranate.
While her inclusion of the vanitas genre invites allegorical interpretations regarding the fleeting nature of youth, Wulff remains dedicated to capturing social dynamics rather than leaning into purely symbolic concepts.
Katharina Wulff
Great Expectations, 2023–24
Egg tempera and oil on canvas in artist's frame
41 7/8 x 49 1/2 inches (106 x 126 cm)
She has explicitly stated that her work is not a form of escapism but rather a direct negotiation with reality, fueled by an empiricist's interest in the world exactly as it exists.
Currently living and working in Marrakesh, Wulff’s global influence is evidenced by a comprehensive solo survey at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and her inclusion in the permanent collections of major institutions such as MoMA, MOCA Los Angeles, and SFMOMA.
Katharina Wulff
Tifaout ntitrit, 2014
Mashrabiya (cedar wood, Iraqi glass)
Three panels, overall: 69 1/4 x 141 11/16 x 2 1/8 inches
(176 x 360 x 5 cm)
Katharina Wulff Fireside, 2025 Oil on canvas in artist's frame 21 1/4 x 25 inches (54 x 64 cm)
