Marta Klonowska: Glass menagerie

Under the title "Glass Menagerie", the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums are presenting works by Polish artist Marta Klonowska from October 25, 2025 to June 21, 2026. Using an artistic technique she developed, she redefines the idea of sculpture. Her glass animals are inspired by paintings and drawings by old masters or East Asian art. She transforms the painted representations into 3D sculptures made of countless, sharp-edged glass plates and moves them from the background of the picture to the foreground. Her works fascinate and entice in many different ways, for example through the play of light and the iridescence of the material or the desire to touch and the simultaneous risk of injury. Every creature tells a story. Each work represents an era of (art) history and each of her animals opens up a world of fantasy, fairy tales and childhood memories. Marta Klonowska's glass work is highly recognized internationally and is represented in all major collections / exhibitions of contemporary glass art. "Glasmenagerie" is her first solo exhibition in southern Germany.