# Rebecca Horn artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/rebecca-horn/
Profile generated: 2026-05-25T06:10:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1944-03-24
- Death date: 2024-09-06
- Nationality: German
- Movements: Body Art, Performance Art, Installation Art
- Common media: Installation, Sculpture, Performance, Film and video, Painting, Drawing

## About Rebecca Horn

Rebecca Horn (1944–2024) was a German visual artist whose career spanned installation, sculpture, performance, film, and painting. She is recognized internationally for pioneering body-art works such as Einhorn (Unicorn), a wearable sculpture that extended a single horn from the wearer's head, and for large-scale kinetic installations that explore motion, vulnerability, and transformation. Born in Michelstadt, she studied from 1963 to 1971 before dividing her time between Berlin and Paris. Over five decades she produced sculptural environments, feature-length films including Der Eintänzer (1978) and Buster's Bedroom (1990), drawings, and literary texts. Major museums holding her work include Tate, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Centre Pompidou. Her practice also extended to opera staging and site-specific public commissions.

## Common works and media

Collectors and appraisers most frequently encounter Horn's work as kinetic and motorized sculptures, mixed-media installations, body-suit and prosthetic objects, works on paper and drawings, prints, and film or video editions. Subjects include mechanical movement, feathered and mirrored elements, anatomical forms, and architectural interventions. Works range from small preparatory drawings to room-scale installations with moving parts.

## Market and appraisal context

Rebecca Horn's work appears at auction primarily in Post-War and Contemporary Art sales. Sculptural installations and kinetic works from signature periods tend to attract the strongest institutional and collector interest. Smaller-scale drawings, prints, and maquettes also circulate and may serve as accessible entry points. Appraisal should consider provenance linking to major exhibitions or museum shows, the specific medium and date of execution, edition or unique status, condition (particularly for motorized or kinetic components), and documented exhibition history. The artist's recent passing in September 2024 may affect market dynamics as estate representation and catalogue projects develop.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine verified artist identity research from museum, library-authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Rebecca Horn, identity and biographical data are grounded in the RKD Netherlands Institute, Getty ULAN, Tate, and Wikidata authority files.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/125279
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/rebecca-horn-2269
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q442192
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Horn
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500047281
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/56711276/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82009642
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/7502