IMAGO Meret Oppenheim

The fame of the Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim rests on one piece, The Fur-lined Teacup, which is considered one of the archetypal Surrealist works. By creating it in 1936 at the age of twenty-three, she leapt into the art-history books - but a year later she had retreated from Paris to Basle to study art in order to live up to her worldwide reputation, and plunged into a depression that lasted seventeen years. 'Nobody gives you freedom, you have to take it,' she remarked, and eventually she was able to emerge from the shadow of that teacup and become a mature artist, her links with Dada and Surrealism still alive. Based on Meret Oppenheim's own words and beautifully narrated by Glenda Jackson, this film is an inspiring tribute to a woman who transformed herself after a long crisis.

For more information see section 32