About Albert Oehlen
German · 1954–present
- contemporary art
German[1] painter who uses mirror fragments, printed fabric grounds, and computer imagery to interrogate the conventions of representation from within the canvas.

Museums8
Countries5
Most worksStädel Museum, Frankfurt · 6 works
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Where to see Albert Oehlen
Ranked by works you can see in person.
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6 works
Städel Museum
Frankfurt, Germany
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2 works
Sprengel Museum
Hanover, Germany
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2 works
Musée d'art moderne de Paris
Paris, France
Also here (6)
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1 works
Museum Ludwig
Cologne, Germany
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1 works
Kunsthaus Zürich
Zurich, Switzerland
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1 works
Museum of Modern Art
New York City, United States
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1 works
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles, United States
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1 works
Tate
London, United Kingdom
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Albert Oehlen?
Albert Oehlen, born in 1954[1] in Krefeld, is an artist who studied in Hamburg until 1981. Before this, he had served an apprenticeship in the book trade, bringing a printer's sensibility to his canvas work and an ironic relationship to representation. He co-founded the Liga zur Bekampfung des widersprulichen Verhaltens (League to Combat Contradictory Behaviour) with Werner Buttner in 1978.What is Albert Oehlen known for?
Albert Oehlen is known for his contributions to a generation of artists who rediscovered painting as a counter-reaction to conceptual art in the late 1970s. He is also known for co-founding the Liga zur Bekampfung des widersprulichen Verhaltens (League to Combat Contradictory Behaviour) with Werner Bittner in 1978.What was Albert Oehlen's art style?
Albert Oehlen's early paintings are thematically provocative with rapid but controlled brushwork. His abstract work pushed further into destabilised surfaces, using commercially printed fabric as a ground layer; computer-generated imagery entered his practice from the early 1990s.
Sources
Where to See guide aggregates verified holdings of Albert Oehlen's works across the following collections.
- [1] wikipedia Wikipedia: Albert Oehlen Used for: biography.
- [2] book guggenheim-refigur00kren Used for: biography.
- [3] book Masterpieces of western art : a history of art in 900 individual studies from the Gothic to the present day Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-07-15. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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