0
items:
£0
Helen Bur has transformed a large-scale façade into a portal of storytelling and human connection. Unveiled in Karlsruhe, Germany, her latest mural “Windows // Women” offers an intimate glimpse into the everyday lives and personal spaces of seven local women.
Painted over the course of seven intensive days on the walls of Hoepfner Castle, the mural is part of the Walls of Vision project, a public art initiative that reimagines historical artworks for modern times. Helen Bur was invited by Georg Barringhaus, with the goal of creating a work that bridges past and present through the lens of lived experience.
Helen Bur, Hoepfner–Castle ‘Woman Windows’
The Painting Behind the Mural: Georg Friedrich Kersting’s “Embroidery Woman”
Helen Bur’s mural “Windows // Women” draws its conceptual foundation from “Embroidery Woman” by Georg Friedrich Kersting, a leading figure of early German Romanticism and a relative of the Hoepfner family.
In the original work, Kersting portrays Louise Seidler, a young painter, and protégé of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, seated quietly by an open window, embroidering. Seidler, who earned her living by making lace and pursued formal painting studies in Dresden, represents the blend of domestic life and intellectual ambition that defined many women of her era but was rarely captured with such nuance.
The interior depicted belonged to Gerhard von Kügelgen, a painter and friend of both Caspar David Friedrich and Kersting. On the wall behind Seidler hangs a copy of Raphael’s “Madonna della Sedia”, along with what is likely a self-portrait of Kersting himself, a man in a black beret wearing the Iron Cross, a subtle nod to his military service in Lützow’s Corps during the anti-Napoleonic campaign.
While rooted in German Romanticism, Kersting’s work also anticipates the Biedermeier style, a movement that praised the poetry of everyday life, the solace of home, and the quiet dignity of ordinary labour.
Georg Friedrich Kersting-Embroiderer-M.Ob.2073 National Museum in Warsaw
From Embroidery to Expression: Helen Bur’s Contemporary Response
In Helen Bur’s hands, this early 19th-century scene is reimagined… not as a single moment, but as a series. Rather than one solitary woman, she paints seven individual women, each local to Karlsruhe, each captured alone in her own world and framed like a window onto her lived experience.
While the figures remain solitary, just as in Kersting’s original, the mural places them side by side, transforming the wall into a continuum of presence, identity, and story. Where Seidler once stitched lace in stillness, the women of Windows // Women compose careers, build families, create art, and lead change.
“The idea was to reinvent this painting in a modern context,” Helen Bur shares. “So I met and photographed seven inspiring local women and used the wall to give windows into their lives.”
Helen Bur doesn’t simply update the painting she multiples it, expanding the quiet intimacy of the original into a collective reflection of contemporary womanhood.
Helen Bur Hoepfner–Castle ‘Woman Windows’
A Marathon of Murals: Meet the Women Behind the Windows
Over the course of one intense week, Helen Bur painted eight individual women, a feat of endurance, creativity, and labour. The mural unfolds as a series of painted “windows” into the lives of seven local women, forming a cohesive yet multifaceted reflection of contemporary femininity. The eighth woman painted pays homage to Georg Friedrich Kersting’s original 1817 painting, anchoring the work in its historical roots.
Helen Bur Hoepfner–Castle ‘Woman Windows’
The women were introduced to Helen Bur through photographer Catharina Hoepfner and include Theresa Staehr, Ceren Akbaba, Minzuo Lù, Iris Schwenk, Daniela Koch, Katharina Schmidt, and Christiane Klobasa. Each was photographed and sketched in her own personal or professional space, whether a studio, office, or home, giving Helen Bur intimate insight into their daily lives and identities.
Helen Bur (End right), Hoepfner–Castle ‘Woman Windows’
These conversations and encounters form the emotional backbone of Windows // Women, turning each section of the wall into a unique and deeply human narrative. The result is a mural that celebrates solidarity, creativity, and individuality, while offering a shared space for reflection and recognition.
Helen Bur, Hoepfner–Castle ‘Woman Windows’
Mirroring the Past: A Living Canvas of Embroidery Woman
The eighth mural serves as a direct tribute to Kersting’s original painting, grounding the project in its historical roots. There are three known versions of Embroidery Woman, each with subtle variations in colour and detail, yet all capturing Kersting’s quiet reverence for introspection and the dignity of domestic life. The first, painted in 1812, is housed in Schlossmuseum Weimar. A second version followed in 1817, created during Kersting’s time in Poland and now held at the National Museum in Warsaw. The third, completed later in 1827, resides in the Kunsthalle in Cologne.
Helen Bur’s mural can be seen as a mirrored, contemporary fourth version of Embroidery Woman. Painted at monumental scale on the exterior of Hoepfner Castle, it reflects both the original work and the world around it. While not a direct reproduction, it reimagines Kersting’s composition through a modern lens: expanding the solitary interior into a shared exterior, and the singular figure into a community of real women, framed like windows into present-day lives.
Helen Bur’s eighth mural serves as a direct tribute to Kersting’s original painting
Hoepfner Castle: A Living Gallery
The success of Windows // Women was made possible through the support of the Dr. Hans Riegel-Stiftung, as part of the Walls of Vision public art initiative, a visionary project that brings classical art into contemporary dialogue by translating historic paintings into large-scale murals on public walls. The project seeks to make art accessible beyond traditional museum spaces, encouraging the public to engage with both heritage and modern culture through the powerful medium of street art.
Helen Bur, Hoepfner–Castle ‘Woman Windows’
In these painted windows, Helen Bur doesn’t just reflect modern womanhood… she invites the city to look in… and perhaps, also to look within.
Artworks by Helen Bur are available through our online store at GraffitiStreet, or in person at:
GraffitiStreet Gallery
25a West Street
Chichester, PO19 1QW
ENGLAND
We currently have two new works available and on display in our latest exhibition ‘Concrete & Colour’ titled ‘Pillar’ and ‘Women for life‘.
Please contact us directly for the full catalogue of Helen Bur’s work or to arrange a private viewing.