In their works, Anna & Bernhard Blume examine the absurdities of bourgeois domestic life. Staging themselves as protagonists in large-format black-and-white photo sequences, they transform everyday spaces into sites of surreal upheaval, where objects fly, collapse, and rebel. With irony and philosophical depth, the Blumes interrogate conventions of gender, identity, and transcendence – using the photographic medium itself to blur the boundaries between reality and the imaginary.

Anna Blume (b. 1937 in Bork, Germany; d. 2020 in Cologne, Germany) and (b. 1937 in Dortmund, Germany; d. 2011 in Cologne, Germany) both studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Exhibitions

Selected solo and duo exhibitions include Kunstmuseum Ahlen (2026 upcoming); Super Super Markt, Berlin (2026); Kunsthalle Krems (2024); Peter Freeman, Inc., New York (2016); KOLUMBA, Cologne; Centre Pompidou, Paris (both 2015); Buchmann Galerie, Berlin (2014); Centre d’Arts Plastiques, Saint-Fons (2013); MEP – Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris (2010); Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2008); Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich (2007); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2005); Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago (2000); Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (1998); Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover (1996); Secession, Vienna (1993); MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1989); Kunsthalle Basel; and Portikus, Frankfurt am Main (both 1987).

Collections

Anna & Bernhard Blume’s work is part of public collections, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts; KOLUMBA, Cologne; Lenbachhaus, Munich; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt am Main; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (mumok), Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco; Sprengel Museum, Hannover; Vancouver Art Gallery, and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

2024

Deutsche Fotografie im Doppelpack
FAZ, Hannes Hintermeier, 2024

2020

Wider die reine Vernunft
taz, Beate Scheder, 2020

2016

Anna and Bernhard Blume
Artforum, Dawn Chan, 2016

1991

Anna and Bernhard Blume
Artforum, Charles Hagen, 1991