Micheline Klagsbrun

Micheline Klagsbrun’s work explores transformation, memory, and the impermanence of forms, drawing inspiration from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and personal histories of displacement. Working in oils, mixed media, and sculpture, she layers pastel, ink, watercolor, collage, and organic elements to create richly textured works that bridge the natural and the imagined.

Nature, myth, and cultural memory shape her series—from Wildflowers and Blossoms of Loss and Desire, inspired by orchids, to Remains to Be Seen, rooted in the landscapes of Colorado. Her Night Boats sculptures evoke her family’s refugee journeys of the 1930s–40s, as they reflect today's worlwide migration struggles, while her latest series, Writ on Water, reflects on identity and memory through dissolving documents of passage. Klagsbrun’s art has evolved into a deeply personal yet universal language, where beauty and fragility coexist with resilience and renewal. Whether on paper, canvas, or in three-dimensional form, her work invites viewers into spaces of quiet reflection—places where transformation is not only inevitable, but also a source of possibility.

Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and internationally, with solo and group exhibitions at institutions including the American University Museum (Washington, D.C.), The Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) and the Embassies of Finland and Venezuela. Her pieces are held in numerous private and public collections, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.) and The Artery Collection.