Born in Milan in 1965, Bettina Werner is known as “The Salt Queen”. Actually, she is the first artist to exclusively use salt in her art.
Salt is an essential element for our health. For Werner, however, it is also knowledge and wisdom due to its long history and importance. After all, there was a time when salt was more valuable than gold and served as currency in trade…
The Queen of Salt
Werner attended the prestigious Brera Academy of Fine Art in Milan and relocated to New York in 1989. Her talent was discovered in the 1990s by the Marisa del Re Gallery in the United States. In 2002, Werner established the Salt Queen Foundation to encourage the adoption of innovative techniques among other artists. Nowadays, the artis resides in New York and features on her work have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, to name a few.
Her Eco-art
Werner’s salt paintings, sculptures, installations and functional pieces are a manifestation of life, love, purity, and spirituality.
“As Einstein says, love is the most powerful force in the universe and salt is the fifth element – just like fire, earth, air and water – it is sacred and essential in human life,” Werner said in 2018 on the occasion of her exhibition “The Enlivening Velvet Heart” at ABXY Gallery. “Salt has the essence of cleansing and healing. At the cellular level, the balances of salt are essential to life. Creating with each single salt crystal is an intimate experience of magic and mystical movement that captures my soul and empowers me. To quote the great architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Less is More, and when experiencing my art, one is able to fully appreciate the texture and shades of color at its heightened dimension.”
Below are just a few of her works we found on her personal social media account. Of course, seeing them in person is a must!
Where to find her artworks?
Werner’s artworks are exhibited in museums, galleries and public places across Europe and the United States. These include: the Whitney Museum, the Detroit Institute of Art, Portofino Museum, Italy, Triennale Museum in Milan, Las Vegas Art Museum, Chase Manhattan Bank, the collection of Herbert and Dorothy Vogel , the collection of Martin Margulies of Miami and Nicos Vernicos of Athens, Greece.
