Janina Bruegel dissects our humanity with tenderness, honesty, starkness, and ruthlessness. In her portraits and group images, the Nuremberg-based artist masterfully penetrates the structure of the personality and lays it bare before the viewer without mercy. What is fascinating is that while her subjects appear mentally detached, their physicality and presence reveal an entire life story. The often vacant gaze of her figures becomes a projection surface and a space of reflection for the viewer’s own psyche.
Janina Bruegel
Oh, how nice that nobody knows that my nickname is "Man-Eater"
Throughout her work, a deep love for people is always palpable. This is no coincidence. The artist is deeply “human.” As a mother of four, she is firmly rooted in the bustling “mêlée of people” simply through her everyday life. Nevertheless—or perhaps precisely because of this—she manages to observe and analyze people intently. “I’m a people-eater,” she says of herself. “I literally absorb their essence and can then convey it on the canvas in such a way that what is typical and essential comes to the fore,” the artist adds.
Artist
Janina Bruegel
- Internationally Successful
- Traded internationally
Publications
Oh, how well everyone knows that my nameis “Menschenfresser”
163 ONE SIX THREE | art in print Verlag
Discover
COME AS YOU ARE, 140 x 120 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2016/2024 © Janina Bruegel
Anyone who paints people
must internalize them
It is this fascination with the uncanny clarity with which Janina Bruegel “strips bare” her protagonists’ inner lives and reveals their naked souls to the viewer. However, her aim is not to expose the characters, but rather to explore their worries, hardships, and, of course, their joys, secrets, and obvious truths. The result is a unique panopticon—a Bruegel cosmos—spiced with elements from the 1950s (the ever-present Monstera, the patterns of Grandma’s washable tablecloths make an appearance) or the 1970s Flower Power era. Much of it is familiar, which makes it easier for the viewer to better understand her body of work; at the same time, however, through her dissecting painting style, she creates a tension that takes one by surprise.
The artist in front of her “little human zoo” © Janina Bruegel
It's not about the details,
it's about the difference.
Janina Bruegel
The precision and brilliance of her figurative painting are based on two essential characteristics. The foundation—as the artist herself says—is observation, observation, and more observation. “When painting, every detail that contributes to the painting’s message is important. You have to leave out so much of reality in order for it to remain intact, and you have to know what makes the difference—that’s all,” Janina Bruegel sums up. A key factor in the expressive physicality of her painting is the fact that the artist studied medicine, giving her a solid foundation in anatomy.
Janina Bruegel in her studio; 2023 © Janina Bruegel
PROFESSOR DAUMER (Kaspar Hauser I) 90 x 115 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2017 © Janina Bruegel
CONNECTION 155 x 140 cm, acrylic on linen, 2021 © Janina Bruegel
What is tradition, anyway?
LORD STANHOPE (Kaspar Hauser III), 90 x 115 cm, acrylic on linen, 2017 © Janina Bruegel
I don't care about art movements
.
I'll do my own thing.
Janina Bruegel
“LORD STANHOPE” (Excerpt)
My Little Human Zoo
Various works by the artist in an exhibition at the Fürth City Theater © Janina Bruegel
Oh, how good it is that no one knows,
, that my name is “Man-Eater”
2024
exhibitions and bio
2026
ST-Art Strasbourg | with gallery konsum163
Enter Art Fair, Kopenhagen | with gallery konsum163
Solo-Show, Galerie Schortgen, Luxemburg
YOUMANE, Solo-exhibition, Galerie konsum163 contemporary, München
2025
“Human Zoo,” solo exhibition, Galerie Berghout, Frankfurt am Main
art Karlsruhe 2025, group exhibition featuring konsum163 – contemporary, Karlsruhe
2024
MENSCHENSKIND – just look at you, Janina Bruegel, Gottfried Römer & Olaf Auser, konsum163, Munich
VON MENSCH ZU MENSCH 2, with Bruno Brady, Stadttheater Fürth
ONE, group exhibition konsum163, Munich
2022- 2019
Solo and group exhibitions, art fairs with Galerie Berghout (Frankfurt am Main) and Galerie AR Contemporary (Nuremberg)
2019
FINAL EXHIBITION: ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE, Venice, group exhibition
: THE SADNESS BEHIND SMILES, Zeltnerschloss, Nuremberg, solo exhibition
2018
KÖLNER LISTE, Art Fair Cologne
PREISTRÄGERAUSSTELLUNG, Galerie H2 Erlangen, group exhibition
WIR TREIBEN’S BUNT , Galerie Landskron/Schneidzik Nürnberg, group exhibition
2017
ART MUC, Art Fair Munich
KASPAR HAUSER OR THE INERTIA OF THE HEART, Galerie Kurzendörfer, Ansbach
2016
PEOPLE AT NIGHT, Kunstverein Schwabach
FROM PERSON TO PERSON, Fürth City Theater, in collaboration with Bruno Bradt
WINTERSALON, Galeriehaus Nord, group exhibition
2015
GOOD DAY, Foyer of the Stadthalle Fürth, solo exhibition
GOOD DAY, Almoshof Castle, Nuremberg, solo exhibition
2014/2013
CLEAR. BRIGHT. COLORFUL., Zeltnerschloss, Nuremberg, in collaboration with Jacob Bruegel
2012
MITTELPUNKT MENSCH, Caritas-Pirckheimer-Haus Nuremberg, in collaboration with Jacob Bruegel
Janina Bruegel was born in Nuremberg in 1983, the eldest of four children. Her passionate interest in people and the meaning of life led her to pursue a logical dual degree: medicine at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen and—as a visiting student—at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. “My love for art has prevailed; it is a truly innate need for me to go to the studio and paint every day.” Since 2012, the artist’s works have been featured in various exhibitions. In 2015, her first solo exhibition caused a sensation. In 2019, Janina Bruegel participated in the Final Exhibition of the renowned Arte Laguna Prize in Venice; she has been nominated multiple times for the Nürnberger Nachrichten Art Prize, Bavaria’s most lucrative art prize, and Bayerischer Rundfunk honored her body of work with a profile. Her large-format works will be on view in an exhibition at the Stadttheater Fürth in 2024.
After spending extended periods in Cambridge, London, and Barcelona, the artist is now living with her family back in her hometown of Nuremberg. Janina Bruegel’s work is featured in various collections, and celebrities such as Sascha Lobo are fans of her unique artworks.
