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Monica Sjöö was a Swedish artist, writer, and activist whose paintings explore  eco-feminism and Goddess spirituality. Born in Sweden to two painters, Sjöö moved to the UK in her twenties, settling in Bristol in 1959 where she spent most of her adult life. She was an early proponent of the neo-pagan Goddess movement in the 1970s and was involved in feminist organising as part of the Women’s Liberation Movement. In the early 1970s she exhibited her painting God Giving Birth (1968) in St Ives and was threatened with prosecution for blasphemy and obscenity. Her book The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (1987) explained her theory of a feminine generative force in the universe. It was inspired by the birth of her second son, an event which she said ‘changed my life and set me questioning the patriarchal culture we live in and its religions that deny the life-creating powers of the mothers and the Great Mother.’ In her paintings Sjöö often intertwines images of the female body and the natural world. She donated two paintings to The Women’s Art Collection in 2003 after discussions with the feminist artist Judy Chicago, whose work is also represented in the Collection. 

Further Reading

Deepwell, Katy, “The art, life and thought of Monica Sjöö,” Publicerad i Paletten 330 (2022): 42–52.

Hamilton Helle, Una, and Matthew Hughes (eds.). Monica Sjöö Curatorial Collective pamphlet. Legion Projects, 2022.

Monica Sjöö: The Great Cosmic Mother. Moderna Museet & Modern Art Oxford, 2023.

Sjöö, Monica, Liz Moore, and Ann Berg. Towards a Revolutionary Feminist Art. Pamphlet printed by Monica Sjöö: Bristol, 1971. 

Selected Public Collections

Feminist Archive South (Bristol)

Moderna Museet (Sweden)

The Goddess Temple (Glastonbury)