İstanbul Modern is preparing to present a major exhibition focusing on the multilayered practice of Semiha Berksoy, one of the most singular and boundary-defying figures of Republican-era Turkish art. Titled Aria of All Colors, the exhibition will open to the public on 22 January 2026 at Istanbul Modern.
Spanning opera, painting, theatre, cinema, and literature, Berksoy is approached not merely as an artist moving between disciplines, but as a creator who continuously forges passages among them, allowing each field to permeate the others. Bringing together more than 200 works, the exhibition renders visible this richly polymorphic universe while tracing how Berksoy conceived art as a lived practice. Marking the most comprehensive Semiha Berksoy exhibition ever realized in Türkiye, the selection ranges from early drawings to opera-themed paintings, from self-portraits to her iconic “sheet paintings.” This thematic framework foregrounds Berksoy’s personal mythology, her profound relationship with the stage, and the recurring notions of selfhood, body, voice, and performance that run through her work.
The exhibition also revisits Berksoy’s pioneering position in Turkey’s cultural history through her leading roles in operas and theatre productions, her published short story, and works such as İstanbul Sokaklarında, considered Turkey’s first sound film.
Conceived by Istanbul Modern’s curatorial team with inspiration drawn from exhibition designs by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, directors of Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Semiha Berksoy: Aria of All Colors is curated by Istanbul Modern’s chief curator Öykü Özsoy Sağnak, curator Deniz Pehlivaner, and assistant curator Yazın Öztürk. Centering on chromatic and expressive diversity, the exhibition seeks not only to illuminate Berksoy’s artistic production but also to reflect the aesthetic, cultural, and social ruptures of her time. The exhibition will be presented with the support of its main sponsor Flormar.
