Last updated: 28 October 2026
Christina Niederberger is the Swiss-born, London-based artist who paints oil pictures that look like woven cloth. Here you will find our take on her work, where to see Christina Niederberger now, how to buy her small paintings, and her two panels in this year’s War Child auction.
Our take on Christina Niederberger
Niederberger paints in oil, but up close her pictures look woven. Each tiny dash of paint sits like a thread passing over and under another, so a flat board reads as fabric. The idea is to bring craft, long seen as women’s work, into the language of painting. “I am interested in the language of painting and how this language has been framed by its cultural conditions, historical tradition and gender politics,” she writes in the statement on her website.
She has two panels in the War Child sale, and both play on the auction’s Band on the Run lyric. In the first, the long-titled …Revealing a Rainbow, painted threads run in bands of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet from top to bottom, crossed by a faint check. The second, The Rain Exploded with a Mighty Crash as We ROSE with the Sun, starts in deep blue at the top, then warms through pale yellow to orange, with a thin red line and a dark green strip along the bottom like a horizon.
Since 2016 she has focused on the legacy of Abstract Expressionism, “‘translating’ (masculine) expressionistic brush-strokes into an illusionistic mark making which mimics embroidery/textiles,” as her statement puts it. These panels show the method clearly at a small scale. They also cost far less than her gallery canvases, which makes them a sensible first buy.
Christina Niederberger: the essentials
- Swiss, born in 1961, and based in London, according to Flowers Gallery. She has a studio at ASC’s Thurlow Street building in South London.
- Studied history at the University of Bern, then trained at Heatherleys, Byam Shaw School of Art (BA, first class, 1996) and Goldsmiths, where she took an MA and a practice-led PhD, awarded in 2009.
- Teaches at Heatherleys School of Fine Art in Chelsea.
- Her War Child CV lists selection for the John Moores Painting Prize 2025 at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and the Contemporary British Painting Prize in 2021.
- Also a curator: she co-curated Patternicity at Exeter Phoenix (2022) and Connecting Threads in London (2026).
- Her work is in the Government Art Collection, the Goldsmiths Collection, the Art Collection of the City of Bern and the Hoffmann-La Roche collection in Basel, according to her War Child CV.
Where to see Christina Niederberger now
- Coming up: Sound & Vision 2026, a War Child charity auction online from 27 October to 12 November 2026, with the works on view at Iconic Images Gallery, London, 6 to 8 November. The pieces are The Rain Exploded with a Mighty Crash as We Fell into the Sun, Revealing a Rainbow (2026), oil on board, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page, and The Rain Exploded with a Mighty Crash as We ROSE with the Sun (2026), oil on board, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page.
- Connecting Threads (group, co-curated with Paul Carey-Kent), Great Pulteney Street Gallery, London, 9 to 17 January 2026, according to FAD Magazine.
- Patternicity (group, co-curated with John Walter), Exeter Phoenix, 30 April to 26 June 2022.
How to buy a Christina Niederberger painting
Christina Niederberger does not sell prints. Her small paintings come up in a charity auction and at Flowers Gallery:
- The Rain Exploded with a Mighty Crash as We Fell into the Sun, Revealing a Rainbow, 2026: a small oil on board in the War Child Sound & Vision auction, bidding from £100 until 12 November 2026 (bid here).
- The Rain Exploded with a Mighty Crash as We ROSE with the Sun, 2026: a small oil on board in the same auction, bidding from £100 until 12 November 2026 (bid here).
- Sunshine & Rain, 2025: oil on canvas, 15 x 15 cm (5.9 x 5.9 in), price on enquiry from Flowers Gallery.
Christina Niederberger FAQs
Are Christina Niederberger’s works textiles?
No. They are oil paintings. She paints each mark to look like a woven or embroidered thread, so the surface imitates fabric.
Where is Christina Niederberger from?
She is Swiss, born in 1961, and has lived and worked in London since the early 1990s, when she trained at Heatherleys and Byam Shaw.
Can I buy a Christina Niederberger painting?
Yes. Flowers Gallery has small 2025 oils on enquiry, and her two War Child panels start at £100.
Where can I see her work in London?
Her two War Child panels are on view at Iconic Images Gallery from 6 to 8 November 2026.
More from CoolCuration
- Ha Chong-Hyun at Lisson review: abstract painting that also plays with weave and surface.
- Great Women Artists: the Phaidon survey book.
- Art on a Postcard: another charity art sale where small works by big names go for less.
- Nine London gallery shows to see in Frieze week: our pick of the autumn exhibitions.
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Main image: Christina Niederberger. Courtesy Heatherleys School of Fine Art. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates, prices, auction results and market figures last checked: 28 October 2026.
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