Born in 1958 in Cologne, Germany.
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany, and New York, USA.

Jutta Koether is a painter, musician, and theorist whose practice is characterized by a deep engagement with painting in relation to other cultural forms. She began her career in Cologne in the early 1980s, where she was involved in the city’s vibrant art and music scenes and contributed to the influential magazine Spex, writing critical texts that positioned her within the intellectual counterculture of the period. In a neo-expressionist scene mostly dominated by male figures, such as Martin Kippenberger, Koether carved out a distinct position, using painting as a critical tool to challenge both its authority and the gendered assumptions embedded within it.

She has since expanded painting beyond strict formalism, exploring its conditions of production, the politics of colour (with a particular focus on red), and the ways in which contemporary popular culture reshapes visual expression. Drawing on diverse historical movements, she reconsiders the male-dominated legacies of modernism and postmodernism, aiming, in her words, to transform “the old canon into a counter-canon, through play and performative strategies.” Alongside her artistic work, Koether writes, collaborates with musicians and authors, and served as Professor of Painting and Drawing at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg from 2010 to 2024.

In 2025, she was granted the Helen Frankenthaler Award for Painting by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

In 2018, the first in-depth survey dedicated to Koether’s work was organized by the Museum Brandhorst, Munich, and Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean. Solo exhibitions dedicated to her work have also been presented at Artium Museoa, Vitoria-Gasteiz (2022); Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (2019); Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2018); Mudam Luxembourg (2018); Dundee Contemporary Art, Dundee (2013); Arnolfini, Bristol (2013); PRAXES Center for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2013); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2011); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2006) among other venues.

Koether was also featured in several international group shows and Biennales such as Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern (2024); Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles (2021); Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2021); HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Graz (2021); mumok, Vienna (2021); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2021); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2019); Whitney Biennial, New York (2012; 2006).

Jutta Koether’s works have joined the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Art Institute of Chicago; Mudam – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean;, Luxembourg; CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, New York; Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich; MMK – Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna; Museum Brandhorst, Munich; Rubell Museum, Miami; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.