Depictions of women can be found on coins and medals stretching back 2,500 years. The eternal anthropoid goddesses were quickly joined by real, living women. Between images of our origins and contemporary issues – exemplified by ‘Eve’ and ‘Greta’ – numerous facets and fields of inquiry open up. Alongside famous figures like Cleopatra, this special exhibition will shed light on the diverse images and interpretations of womanhood contained in coins and, in particular, medallions. 

In the process, we find women not only as the subject of portraits or commissioners of works, but also as creators, collectors and scholars. Alongside objects from the vaults of the Münzkabinett, the exhibition showcases two artist’s editions that were created specially for this exhibition. The works on this year’s theme of the Berliner Medailleurkreis meet entries from the callout for emerging artists to create an artistic medallion depicting “The Three Graces”. The exhibition questions how coins and medallions reinforce or challenge social images of women that have been shaped by other forces.    

A special exhibition of the Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with the Numismatische Gesellschaft zu Berlin e. V. and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medaillenkunst e. V.