MARIA LASSNIG: SELF WITH DRAGON

HAUSER & WIRTH is pleased to present Self with Dragon, Maria Lassnig’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong.

September 26, 2025 – February 28, 2026

Lassnig first developed her theory of ‘body awareness’ in the 1940s; in the decades that followed, she rendered her physical and emotional states in arresting visual terms, often portraying herself as fragmented, hybrid or in direct dialogue with abstract shapes, machines and animals.

Anchoring the exhibition is ‘Selbst mit Drachen (Self with Dragon)’ (2005), which the exhibition takes its title from. Lassnig refers to the reptile‑like, usually winged hybrid creature of Western mythology—a dragon—which represents a threat to humankind and bears little resemblance to its East Asian counterpart. The battle against such a dangerous beast can refer not only to external forces but also to internal ones—traits perceived as negative, socially undesirable and repressed aspects of the personality. This is a confrontation that Lassnig has embraced in her art and particularly in this painting.

Despite being known for her large format oil on canvas works, Lassnig’s works on paper are intimately connected to her singular approach, translating interior bodily sensations to line and value on the page. She noted in 1992, ‘The drawing is closest to the moment. Every moment has only one possibility.’

‘I step in front of the canvas naked, as it were. I have no set purpose, plan, model or photography. I let things happen. But I do have a starting point, which has come from my realization that the only true reality are my feelings, played out within the confines of my body.’

— Maria Lassnig