Die Schminkstuber der Falter 1962

Imre Reiner made "Die Schminkstuber der Falter" – or "The Butterfly's Dressing Room" - using mixed media on paper. This dream-like image invites us to consider the artist's position in relation to the natural world and the wider culture of post-war Europe. The image makes meaning through its cultural references and historical associations. Reiner was a Swiss-born artist active throughout the middle decades of the twentieth century. He worked as a graphic designer, painter, and sculptor. This places him in the context of the rise of professional art and design schools. Note the ways he freely combines formal abstraction with recognizable symbols. How does this speak to the relationship between institutions of art and other visual media in the mid-20th century? Is he critiquing the purity of the museum or gallery? Historians rely on a range of information, from artist's biographies to the archives of galleries to illuminate these questions. Art always relies on a wider context.