Meret Oppenheim nasce a Berlino il 6 ottobre 1913, da madre svizzera, Eva Wenger, e padre tedesco di origine
ebraica, Erich Alphons Oppenheim. Trascorre l’infanzia in Svizzera, prima a Delémont e poi in Germania,
a Steinen, dove suo padre medico ha lo studio. A Carona, in Ticino, dove i nonni possiedono una casa di villeggiatura passa le vacanze. Frequenta collegi in diverse località e riceve un’educazione non religiosa, attenta alle arti e alla psicologia. Nel 1932, decisa a diventare artista, parte per Parigi dove frequenta senza entusiasmo l’Académie de la Grande Chaumière e dove conosce Alberto Giacometti e Hans Arp che la presentano ai Surrealisti
(Breton, Tanguy, Ernst, Man Ray). Nel 1934 Man Ray scatta una serie di fotografie che la renderanno
nota come musa e bellezza disinibita, donna moderna e libera.

Meret Oppenheim was born in Berlin on October 6th, 1913, of Swiss mother, Eva Wenger, and German father of
Jewish origin, Eric Alphons Oppenheim. She spent her childhood in Switzerland, first in Delémont and
then in Germany, in Steinen, where her father, a doctor, had his practice. She spent her vacations in Carona, in Ticino, where the grandparents owned a vacation home. She attended boarding schools in various locations and received a non-religious education, strong in the arts and psychology. In 1932, determined to become an artist, she left for Paris where she sporadically attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and where she met
Alberto Giacometti and Hans Arp who introduced her to the Surrealists (Breton, Tanguy, Ernst, Man
Ray). In 1934 Man Ray took a series of photographs that would make her known as a muse and uninhibited
beauty, as a modern and a free woman.