Semiha Berksoy

One of the most significant figures in Turkey’s modern cultural history and an extraordinary creative force by any standards, Semiha Berksoy (1910-2004) was, over her long lifetime, one of the leading opera singers in Europe, an actress, performance artist, poet and painter. Berksoy began her creative career as an actress, taking, at the age of 21, the leading role in the first Turkish sound movie, İstanbul Sokakları (The Streets of Istanbul). Soon afterwards Berksoy starred in the first Turkish opera, Özsoy, performing in front of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, who became a lifelong fan and supporter. In 1939, for the 75th birthday of Richard Strauss in Berlin, she sang the role of Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos, becoming the first Turkish prima donna to perform on stage in Europe. Back in Turkey, she worked with Carl Ebert in helping found and inspire the Turkish State Opera and Ballet. Berksoy painted throughout her life, having studied art as a teenager, but painting was for her, until late in her life, an intensely private affair.

An autodidact, self-mythologizer and mystic, the works, expressed in a powerfully immediate and emotive style, comprise a compelling visual diary of both Berksoy’s storied career and her vital and turbulent inner world.

In recent years the support of key figures have brought Berksoy’s painting to wide, international audience. Martinez included 26 of her paintings in the 51st Venice Biennale, 2005. Her work has also been included in the 5th Istanbul Biennale, 1997; Manifesta 2, 1998; 9th Shanghai Biennale, 2012; Frieze Masters, 2018; Sharjah Biennale 14, 2019; La Lune Du Voyage Réel aux Voyages Imaginaires at le Grand Palais, 2019; the 16th Lyon Biennale, 2022; and recently the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. A comprehensive retrospective exhibition titled Singing in Full Colour was also recently held at Hamburger Bahnhof - Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in 2025.

Selected publications of the artist include Singing in Colour by Silvana Editoriale accompanying her retrospective exhibition of the same name in 2024; Catalogue Raisonné by Galerist in 2017; Ateş Kuşu by the Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism and I Lived on Art, I Lived On Love by Yapı Kredi in 2010 among others.