The ALBERTINA dedicates Austria’s first solo exhibition to Jenny Saville, one of the most successful contemporary artists. The British artist, born in 1970, is considered one of the Young British Artists (YBAs), alongside Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst.
Inspired by Old Masters from Leonardo to Raphael, as well as modern artists such as Egon Schiele, Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud, Saville’s figurative painting explores the physicality of the human body while experimenting with different media.
Since the 1990s, she has created striking depictions of corporeality, characterized by directness and immediacy. The exhibition offers insight into her oeuvre from the past two decades and also presents new, previously unseen works.
Jenny Saville – Kurze Biografie
Jenny Saville (*1970 in Cambridge, England) is a British artist renowned for her large-scale, expressive depictions of the human body. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art and gained international recognition in the 1990s as part of the Young British Artists (YBAs). Saville’s work intensely examines themes of corporeality, identity, and beauty perception. Her powerful, impasto paintings of oversized female bodies challenge societal beauty standards, merging classical painting traditions with a contemporary perspective. Today, she is regarded as one of the most significant figurative painters of her generation.
The exhibition will be on view at the ALBERTINA from March 21 to June 29, 2025.