Scandal! Hermione von Preuschen and the “Mors Imperator”

“The Alte Nationalgalerie is dedicating its exhibition “Scandal! Hermione von Preuschen and the “Mors Imperator”” to the painter, writer, and world traveler Hermione von Preuschen. The focus is on her 1887 painting “Mors Imperator,” whose rejection by the Berlin Academy of Arts made her famous overnight. “Genius [is] so free that it does not turn to gender; it flies into the souls of whomever and however it wants.” These words were spoken by the painter, poet, and world traveler Hermione von Preuschen at the “International Women’s Congress” in Berlin in 1896, where she advocated for the emancipation of women, who at that time were denied education at the academies, in her speech “On the Artistic Study of Women.” …”