On October 29, 2025, painter and graphic artist Karin Kneffel will receive the German Catholic’s Art and Culture Prize 2025 – the highest distinction bestowed by the Catholic Church in the field of culture. The award will be presented at the Kolumba Museum in Cologne by Bishop Dr. Georg Bätzing, Chair of the German Bishops’ Conference, and Dr. Irme Stetter-Karp, President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). The jury honored the artist for her “technical perfection” and her ability to let “symbolism and realism, iconography and surface, art and life meet in ways that are both surprising and captivating” within her mostly photorealistic paintings. Particular praise was given to Kneffel’s recent painting cycle “Face of a Woman, Head of a Child,” in which she reinterprets the Christian iconography of Mary and Jesus in a new and “deeply approachable” way. The prize has been awarded to artists and cultural figures in the fields of literature, architecture, music, film, visual arts, and theater since 1990. Karin Kneffel is only the second visual artist to receive the prize; Gerhard Richter was awarded in 2004.
KARIN KNEFFEL
German Catholic’s Art and Culture Prize 2025, Cologne, DE
29 October 2025
