On October 6, 2026, contemporary artist Elena Von Kohn will bring her enigmatic surrealist world to one of Vienna’s most atmospheric historic settings, Palais Auersperg, for the presentation of her exhibition, The Gate of Déjà Vu.
For Von Kohn, whose large-scale paintings combine dream imagery, psychological symbolism and meticulously constructed visual narratives, Vienna represents more than another stop on an international exhibition schedule. It is a setting in which history, music, architecture and memory converge—the same elements that repeatedly surface in her paintings.
The artist was invited to present her work at Palais Auersperg, the historic Vienna palace whose ornate interiors have long been associated with music, culture and European social life. The October 6 presentation will take place in connection with an evening of classical music at the palace, creating a dialogue between painting, architecture and sound.
The title The Gate of Déjà Vu reflects a recurring idea in Von Kohn’s work: the sensation of encountering something one cannot logically remember, yet somehow recognizes.
“Déjà vu is an extraordinary feeling because for a moment we seem to stand between two realities,” Von Kohn says. “We know that something is happening for the first time, yet emotionally we feel that we have already lived it. That mysterious space between memory and imagination fascinates me.”
Von Kohn describes her artistic language as enigmatic surrealism. Rather than illustrating dreams literally, she constructs scenes in which familiar objects, architectural fragments, figures and landscapes are placed into relationships that resist immediate explanation.
Her paintings frequently operate like visual puzzles. Perspective changes unexpectedly. Objects assume symbolic importance. Monumental spaces coexist with intimate psychological moments. The viewer is offered clues—but rarely a single prescribed interpretation.
That ambiguity is intentional.
“For me, a painting should continue after the artist is finished with it,” Von Kohn says. “The viewer brings his or her own memories, experiences and emotions. In that moment, another version of the painting begins.”
Born in Leipzig, Germany, Von Kohn began painting as a small child and later received rigorous classical artistic training in Moscow. She earned her MFA summa cum laude from Moscow State Pedagogical University Art Department after attending the Moscow Art School for Gifted Children.
Her career has subsequently crossed countries and cultural traditions. Her works have entered institutional and private collections, and her exhibitions and projects have taken her from the United States to Paris and now Vienna.
The artist’s European trajectory accelerated during an extended period of work in Paris, followed by her June 2026 presentation in Le Marais. Vienna, however, offers an entirely different context.
Where Paris encouraged experimentation and movement, Vienna surrounds the paintings with a centuries-old visual language of ceremony, symmetry, ornament and music.
Von Kohn believes this environment is unusually compatible with the psychological architecture of her work.
“The paintings are contemporary, but the questions behind them are timeless,” she says. “Who are we? What do we remember? What have we forgotten? Why do certain places or people feel strangely familiar? Vienna is a wonderful city in which to ask those questions.”
Several works selected for the exhibition are substantial in scale, an important element of Von Kohn’s practice. She frequently works on canvases large enough to physically surround the viewer’s field of vision.
Rather than functioning simply as images on a wall, the works are intended to become environments.
This sense of entering another reality lies at the heart of The Gate of Déjà Vu.
“A gate is something you can stand in front of,” Von Kohn says. “But eventually you have to decide whether you are going to walk through it.”
On October 6, inside Palais Auersperg, viewers will have that opportunity.
