The “Sous le Soleil” edition was created in collaboration between KPM Berlin and the artist Johanna Dumet. Dumet transferred depictions of the female nude onto dinner plates from Enzo Mari’s BERLIN series and developed a visual concept in which the female body appears as an independent form without fixed attributions.

The motifs transcend traditional gender roles. Johanna Dumet creates a state in which external expectations play no role. She consciously breaks away from the male gaze, thereby referencing, for example, Paula Modersohn Becker’s “Self-Portrait on the 6th Wedding Anniversary” (1906), which is considered the first self-determined depiction of the female body. Dumet has transposed this approach into the present: here, intimacy does not appear as a display, but as a space that belongs solely to the woman depicted. At the same time, references can be drawn to porcelain figurines by KPM Berlin. Johann Gottfried Schadow’sPrinzessinnengruppe(1796), Louis Tuaillon’s “Amazon on Horseback” (1924), and Adolph Amberg’s “Europa on the Bull” (1909) each represented a reinterpretation of the female figure. Their figures broke free from representational conventions and gained a physical presence. Dumet takes up this shift and translates it into a reduced, two-dimensional visual language.

Her figures appear in calm, natural poses, free of narrative embellishment. Therein lies a quiet radicalism: biographical topographies—the coasts of Saint-Tropez and Denmark—have coalesced into an inner landscape that serves as a space for retreat and autonomy. During a two-month residency at the KPM Master Painters’ Workshop, the French artist hand-painted her nude motifs onto dinner plates from Enzo Mari’s BERLIN series, making each plate a one-of-a-kind piece. Launched in 1996, the BERLIN series—whose formal interplay of contrasts pays homage to the German capital—symbolizes for Dumet yet another place of artistic freedom. The plates serve not only as a canvas but also stand as a symbol of a vibrant dining culture that fosters community and enriches life. With every bite, not only does the nude unfold, but so does the essence of our being. “Sous le Soleil” thus articulates a quiet utopia. It depicts the female body without attribution, without dramatization, without hierarchy.

The KPM+ Johanna Dumet Edition “Sous le Soleil” set of three BERLIN dinner plates is available exclusively at KPM stores and in the KPM online shop for 833 euros, and is limited to 100 sets.