Birth taboo: why art does not show mothers as mothers

Agnostics and atheists can also identify with the birth of Christ as a reason for celebration;

the beauty of a newborn as in Raphael's Sistine Madonna from 1512 will probably not be hidden from anyone.

And yet there is always a big taboo associated with the topic: the actual birth itself.

Only more recent art approaches this existential side of motherhood. As soon as Corona allows, the Kunsthalle Mannheim will open an extensive exhibition on the subject together with the Copenhagen Museum Louisiana. It is planned for January in Copenhagen. The museums have thus chosen a topic that could not be more important or more controversial. Hardly any other term provokes more diverse associations, sensations and role clichés than “mother”.