Two of the most prominent names in contemporary German art are currently in Rostock, where painter Rosa Loy from Leipzig is presenting her largest solo exhibition to date. The retrospective titled "Sonne im Sinn" (Sun in Mind) features 98 works spanning nearly 30 years of her artistic career, while her husband Neo Rauch, considered one of the most significant contemporary German painters worldwide, quietly supports her from the sidelines.

Loy firmly states that her work is not about feminism in the traditional sense. "This is not feminism. This is art," she explains. However, her paintings do explore women's roles in society, though she distances herself from what she considers superficial gender politics. "It's about women, about the role of women in this society. But the usual war vocabulary in gender battles is too shallow for me. I'm not concerned with quotas, gendering, equal rights, feminist fuss. That sounds like trivial nonsense when I outline my paintings."

The surreal painted worlds created by this master student of Rolf Münzner, representing the New Leipzig School, are populated primarily by female figures. Men appear as marginal figures or dwarfs, but Loy insists this isn't feminist art but rather sensual painting. Critics often label it "New Surrealism," which she considers complete nonsense.

Born in Zwickau in 1958, Loy brings a unique perspective shaped by her East German upbringing. "I was socialized in the GDR, where all women went to work," she reflects. "There was a break after reunification. Today we place far too little value on feminine qualities. That's not yet in harmony with me. That's why I deal with the strengths of women. And with beauty."

However, Loy acknowledges the complexity of beauty in art. "Beauty in art is shallow and always needs disruptors. But I don't see this as a power struggle, but as enrichment. I'm still not finished with it," she explains. Her works aim to highlight feminine strengths and beauty while avoiding traditional feminist rhetoric.

The exhibition, running from September 20 through November 30 at the Rostock Art Hall, represents Loy's most comprehensive show to date. After studying horticulture and earning a diploma in Berlin, she pursued book design, painting, and graphics at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, where she met her future husband Neo Rauch.

Rauch, who ranks alongside Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz, and the recently deceased Günther Uecker among Germany's most important contemporary painters globally, demonstrates remarkable support for his wife's independent artistic journey. At the exhibition opening, he delivered what amounted to a humorous love letter to his wife, despite her advice against speaking freely. "Rosa told me, don't do it. You can't handle it anymore," he shared with the audience.

Despite the poor acoustics in the art hall's mirror room, Rauch's quiet artist voice carried through as he praised his wife's work. "Rosa unfolds a reality that seems completely single-gendered. But she cannot be accused of hostility toward men," he noted. He described his wife as "a creator of her very own solar system" whose work doesn't aim to destroy viewing habits or similar art attitudes, but rather appeals to sensuality, targeting "the depth of the soul and emotions."

What sets Rauch apart in the male-dominated art world is his ability to step aside and let his wife shine. Throughout the exhibition setup and opening, his restrained presence and gestures demonstrated what many men in the art world struggle with: not blocking the free view of his wife as an independent artist with her own greatness. He steps back, smiles, and lets her radiate – certainly a unique characteristic in the male art establishment.

Rostock Art Hall Director Jörg-Uwe Neumann describes the exhibition as "a riot of colors," calling it "painting in the best sense." He explains, "Rosa manages to take us along, but leaves me, at least, often standing confused in front of the canvas." Loy smiles and whispers in response, "That's also the goal."

The works displayed in Rostock come from museums, galleries, and private collections worldwide, as well as from the Loy & Rauch household. As Rauch jokes, "The house is practically uninhabitable until the end of November" due to the loans for the exhibition.

For 25 years, the Rostock Art Hall has been critically and openly engaging with GDR art without ideology, contributing to a differentiated reappraisal through exhibitions featuring Werner Tübke, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Arno Rink & Neo Rauch, Ulrich Hachulla, and Michael Tiegel. Now Rosa Loy joins this distinguished list.

Neumann felt it was high time for the art hall to dedicate an exhibition to a significant contemporary female painter from Leipzig. The retrospective spans from 1998 to 2025, featuring paintings, works on paper, prints, sculptures, and even knitted works. "Rosa Loy deals with the feminine world," Neumann explains. "She gives us a feminine perspective, takes us into her world, self-determined and sensual."

Loy's surreal, color-intensive yet concentrated pictorial worlds, which glow from a distance, are traversed by fairy tale motifs, mythical creatures, and myths. Ladders appear as symbols of wisdom, Mother Holle with geese in clouds, wolf figures, Rapunzel towers, childhood memories, paired with everyday scenarios like hanging laundry, nature observations, and concrete urban situations.

The creative process itself is intuitive for Loy. "You come into the studio and suddenly the painting says, 'I'd like a city now,'" she describes. Beyond beauty and sensuality, her work always contains an overlying level of meaning related to concrete life situations. "Sometimes you notice that things are changing. Then you need the courage to say, 'I'm jumping.'"