Background
Helen Dahm was born on March 21, 1878 in Egelshofen (now Kreuzlingen), Switzerland.
Helen Dahm was born on March 21, 1878 in Egelshofen (now Kreuzlingen), Switzerland.
Helen studied art in Zurich and Munich.
Helen's early work included hand-colored, hand-pressed fabric prints, mostly expressionistic in style. In the early 1930s, Helen suffered from severe depression and did very little art. However, a meeting with Meher Baba in Cannes, France in 1937 had a profound effect on her. In 1938, by invitation of Meher Baba, Dahm came to live in his ashram in Meherabad, India and painted the interior murals in his would-be samadhi (tomb) that had been completed earlier that year. Her paintings are still viewable there today, as restored by American artist Dot Lesnik in 1989. For health reasons Dahm eventually returned to her homeland of Switzerland.
After this period, Dahm's work took an inspired religious turn, becoming occupied with imagery including expressionistic interpretations of paradise, the Pietà, the crucifixion of Christ and angels. After this period her work became increasingly abstract.
Helen Dahm only received recognition late in life. In 1967, at the age of 89, she had her first major retrospective exhibition in Switzerland. Helen Dahm died in the spring of 1968 in Mannedorf.
Amaryllis
Ausritt
Blumen
Blumenstilleben
1954Brahmshaus in Rüschlikon
1928Das Haus der Malerin
1955Die Treppe
1907Flower Design
1963Goldwald
1957Kamele und Beduinen in der Wüste
Kamelien
1955Klostergarten
Liegende Katze
Mädchen mit Schwänen
1954Mountain landscape
1941Portrait of a Woman
1920Raumspinne
1960Selbstporträt mit Seifenblasen
Stillleben mit Geranien und Schale
1950Untitled #318
Else Strantz was her life partner for twenty years, and it was through Strantz that Dahm met the Blue Rider group of artists, who were very influential to Dahm.