The exhibition Semiha Berksoy: An Aria of All Colors, presented by Istanbul Modern with Flormar as its sponsor, will close on November 22, 2026. As the exhibition approaches its closing date, a special guided tour attended by the artist’s daughter, theatre artist Zeliha Berksoy, also provided the occasion for a meaningful donation announcement. It was announced that Ariadne auf Naxos (Self-Portrait), a 1998 work from Semiha Berksoy’s distinctive bedsheet paintings series, would be donated to the Istanbul Modern Collection.
Bringing together more than 70 years of Semiha Berksoy’s artistic production across the performing and visual arts, cinema, and literature, An Aria of All Colors has attracted considerable interest from art enthusiasts. The exhibition has been extended until November 22 and is expected to welcome 650,000 visitors by the time it closes.
Theatre artist Zeliha Berksoy led a special tour featuring selected works in the exhibition, sharing insights into her mother Semiha Berksoy’s life, artistic production, and multifaceted practice. Following the tour, it was announced that Ariadne auf Naxos (Self-Portrait), from the artist’s bedsheet paintings series, would be donated to the Istanbul Modern Collection.
“The Trust Artists and Their Families Place in Our Museum Is Our Greatest Strength”
Oya Eczacıbaşı, Chair of the Board of Istanbul Modern, expressed her pleasure at the strong public interest in the exhibition, stating:
“We are delighted to present a comprehensive exhibition at Istanbul Modern that brings visibility to the multifaceted artistic practice of Semiha Berksoy, one of the pioneering women artists in Turkish art. As our exhibition approaches its closing date, the addition of another work to our collection—one that reflects the artist’s creative world and distinctive use of materials—makes this exhibition even more special for us.
“Bringing together works from different periods of an artist’s career, reflecting their methods of production and artistic vision, within museum collections makes a significant contribution to a more comprehensive understanding of their work and to its preservation for future generations. We are delighted that, through Zeliha Berksoy’s valuable donation, we will be able to preserve another work by Semiha Berksoy in our collection for the future. The trust that artists and their families place in our museum is one of our most valuable foundations for developing our collection and safeguarding the memory of art in Türkiye.”
“I Am Very Happy That My Mother’s Artistic Legacy Will Live on at Istanbul Modern”
Zeliha Berksoy, sharing her happiness at the inclusion of another work by her mother in the Istanbul Modern Collection, said:
“As someone who witnessed my mother Semiha Berksoy’s art and life firsthand, having another of her works become part of the Istanbul Modern Collection holds a very special and emotional meaning for me. For my mother, art was not separate from life; her experiences, feelings, and relationships, both on stage and in everyday life, were also part of her paintings.
“For this reason, I am donating Ariadne auf Naxos (Self-Portrait), a work that embodies her distinctive world, to the Istanbul Modern Collection, where I believe it will help bring my mother’s art to future generations. The fact that the museum’s collection already includes other works by my mother makes this donation even more meaningful to me. It is an indescribable joy to know that her art will continue to live on at Istanbul Modern and encounter new audiences.”
From the Exhibition to the Museum Collection: Ariadne auf Naxos (Self-Portrait)
Semiha Berksoy’s Ariadne auf Naxos (Self-Portrait), which will be donated to the museum’s collection, stands out as a distinctive example of the artist’s bedsheet paintings series. Created in 1998 using oil paint on fabric, the work reflects Berksoy’s approach to challenging the boundaries of traditional painting materials and transforming everyday surfaces into unique spaces of expression.
Berksoy’s practice of painting on bedsheets reveals her creative approach from both technical and conceptual perspectives. Compared with a canvas, a bedsheet offers a larger, more flexible, and more dynamic surface, creating an expressive space in which to emphasize the body language of figures and the dramatic rhythm of scenes. The material’s everyday and intimate character not only supports a visual narrative but also opens up a space for performative and experimental artistic production.
For Berksoy, art was not a separate sphere of life but life itself. Accordingly, the boundaries between the studio and the bedroom, the stage and the home, and the canvas and the bedsheet dissolve in her practice. Surfaces such as bedsheets, curtains, and bedcovers are connected, in the artist’s world, to fundamental themes such as the “body” and “love.”
The work takes its title from Richard Strauss’s opera Ariadne auf Naxos. In 1939, the opera was performed at the Berlin State Opera on the occasion of Strauss’s 75th birthday, with Semiha Berksoy playing the role of Ariadne. She became the first prima donna from Türkiye to perform on a European stage. By exploring her own self-portrait through this operatic character, Berksoy reveals the profound connection she established between the performing and visual arts, as well as her approach to art and life as inseparable.
On View Until November 22
Curated by Öykü Özsoy Sağnak, Chief Curator at Istanbul Modern, and Curator Deniz Pehlivaner, with Yazın Öztürk as Assistant Curator, Semiha Berksoy: An Aria of All Colors will be on view at Istanbul Modern until November 22, 2026.
