Cornelia Baltes

Cornelia Baltes is known for her paintings and installations that oscillate between abstraction and figuration. Gestural lines of corporeal elements such as facial features, hands and feet are painted over solid fields or gradations of bright colour. Charged with a distinct intensity and sense of movement, Baltes’ minimal compositions balance playfulness with subtle detail, where seemingly spontaneous brushstrokes are in fact meticulously applied with highly pigmented paint. Grounded in a lexicon of imagery that conjure the viewer’s personal memories, experiences and associations, Baltes’ paintings morph into a different narrative for each of us.

Cornelia Baltes (b. 1978 in Moenchengladbach, Germany) currently resides and works in Berlin. She received an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2011 and has exhibited at institutions such as The Royal Academy of Arts, London; Chapter Arts Center, Cardiff; Kunsthalle Nuremburg, Nuremburg, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; ICA London; Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Kunstverein Ulm, Ulm, Germany; Museum Kunst Palast Dusseldorf. In 2015, she had a solo exhibition at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland, United Kingdom. In 2019, Baltes was included in a group exhibition travelling from Kunstmuseum Bonn to the Museum Wiesbaden, the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz – Museum Gunzenhauser and Deichtorhallen Hamburg. Her practice also includes murals and permanent installations, notably at SOSU Silkeborg and Aarhus, Denmark.

In spring 2025, Baltes had a major solo exhibition, Tilt at Fuhrwerkswaage in Cologne and an extensive monograph on Baltes was released last year by DVC books.

View artist's CV

View artist's Portfolio

Cornelia Baltes - The Sun Stumbles In

Paris

18 Oct - 22 Nov 2025

Andréhn-Schiptjenko is delighted to announce The Sun Stumbles In , German painter Cornelia Baltes’ first solo exhibition in Paris. The opening will take place on Saturday 18 October 2025 from...

Cornelia Baltes - Hub Bub

Stockholm

4 May - 22 Jun 2023

We are pleased to present Cornelia Baltes’ first exhibition at Andréhn-Schiptjenko. The opening takes place between 5-8pm on Thursday, May 4. Cornelia Baltes is known for her paintings and installations...

Cornelia Baltes

Dingbats

Larissa Kikol, Alexander Klar, George Vasey, Anna-Lena Werner, 2024

Hardcover, 224 pages
Publisher: DCV
ISBN: 978-3-96912-182-5
Dimensions: 20,5 x 28 cm

Cornelia Baltes at Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium

Solo-exhibition

23 May - 13 Jul 2024

For this new exhibition, the Berlin-based artist activates the space with large, vividly pigmented paintings built from sprayed gradients, bold gestures, and fine brushwork. Cornelia...