Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore

 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

through January 20, 2025

American painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) and British sculptor Henry Moore (1898–1986) are among the most distinctive artists of the 20th century. They have long been admired for their extraordinary distillations of natural forms into abstraction—O’Keeffe’s iconic paintings of flowers and Moore’s monumental public sculpture. Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore is the first to bring these two artists together, using compelling visual juxtapositions to explore their common ways of seeing. Each artist experimented with unusual perspectives, shifts in scale, and layered compositions to produce works that were informed by their surroundings—O’Keeffe in New Mexico and Moore in Hertfordshire, England.

Featuring over 150 works—including about 60 works by O’Keeffe and 90 by Moore—the exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, as well as faithful recreations of each of the artists’ studios containing their tools and found objects. Organized by the San Diego Museum of Art, Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore is an unprecedented collaboration with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the Henry Moore Foundation.

“Looking at O’Keeffe and Moore together, we can see how both artists were inspired by and also made use of natural forms. O’Keeffe hoped that her paintings would make people pay attention to things they usually overlooked—the soft gradations of a flower petal, the patterns within a landscape, or the shapes between two objects. As O’Keeffe said herself, ‘to see takes time.’ The chance to see her work in person is not to be missed,” said Erica Hirshler, Croll Senior Curator of American Paintings.

“While many of our visitors here in Boston will know O’Keeffe’s work and reputation well, they might be less familiar with Moore, one of the most important British artists of the 20th century. The generous loans from the Henry Moore Foundation allow us to recreate the artist’s studio and will really help bring Moore alive and show how found objects played a role in the creation of his large-scale public sculpture,” said Courtney Harris, Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture.

Through careful observation of their surroundings and the objects they collected, O’Keeffe and Moore reimagined natural forms—bones, stones, shells, flowers, and the land itself—into dynamic abstractions. Each played with scale, exploring the effects of making small things large. They twisted and turned pieces in space, searching for balance, looking within their complex interiors, and exploring how objects transform the spaces around them. The exhibition presents their works both individually and in dialogue, presenting unique juxtapositions such as:

• O’Keeffe’s Red Tree, Yellow Sky (1952, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) and Moore’s Working Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge (1961, The Henry Moore Foundation): O’Keeffe often envisioned how miniature forms might become monumental. In this painting she juxtaposed a small piece of wood against a distant landscape, conflating near and far, large and small. Moore similarly made a small thing enormous, inspired by the breastbone of a bird to create a figurative sculpture that twists in space and encourages viewers to walk around it.

• Moore’s Helmet (1939–1940, The Henry Moore Foundation) and O’Keeffe’s Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. 3 (1930, National Gallery of Art, Washington): This work by Moore was the first in a series of small sculptures with hollow shells that encased unique interior forms. O’Keeffe similarly used a technique of enclosure in her painting of a deep purple flower with its complex interior and billowing leaves.

• O’Keeffe’s Pelvis IV (1944, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum) and Moore’s Reclining Figure Bone (1975, The Henry Moore Foundation): O’Keeffe plays with scale, depth, and perspective by showing an entire vista through the aperture of a sun-bleached pelvic bone. Her interest in simplification and negative space is mirrored in Moore’s reduction of the human figure to a simple curve. His choice of travertine, with its porous texture and off-white color, maintains its connection to his inspiration in a weathered animal bone.

There were many other artists active in the U.S. and Europe in the mid-20th century who also looked to nature. The MFA’s presentation of Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore draws upon the Museum’s modernist collection to provide a broader context. O’Keeffe and Moore’s works are put into dialogue with photographs, prints, sculpture, and paintings by artists including Edward Weston (1886–1958), Alexander Calder (1898–1976), Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975), Arthur Dove (1880–1946), Jean Arp (1886–1966), Imogen Cunningham (1883–1976), and Maria Montoya Martinez (Poveka or Water Pond Lily), (Powhogeh Owingeh [San Ildefonso Pueblo]) (1887–1980).

At the core of the exhibition are recreations of the artists’ studios, built with original contents from O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch studio in the hills of New Mexico and Moore’s Bourne Maquette Studio in Perry Green, a small hamlet surrounded by sheep fields in Hertfordshire, England. Though both O’Keeffe and Moore remained within reach of city life, the two artists worked in rural settings, both amassing large personal collections of animal bones, stones, seashells, and other natural materials that served as key sources of inspiration. These found objects can be seen in these spaces alongside tools, unfinished works, and plaster maquettes. The studio installations illuminate the heart of O’Keeffe and Moore’s artistic practices—something rarely made visible in museum spaces—and create richer portraits of the artists by encouraging visitors to imagine how they worked and lived.

Artist Biographies

Georgia O’Keeffe was born in 1887 and grew up in rural Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She first studied art in Chicago and then, in New York, with the American Impressionist painter William Merritt Chase. But she pursued a more modern approach, inspired by Arthur Wesley Dow, whose compositional theories were rooted in Japanese art. In the 1910s, O’Keeffe, then an art teacher in West Texas, began to make nature-based abstractions, learning to love the landscapes of the southwest.

O’Keeffe came to New York in 1916. Without her knowledge, a friend had sent her drawings to the New York art dealer, photographer, and champion of modernism Alfred Stieglitz, who gave O’Keeffe her first show at his gallery 291. With Stieglitz’s support, she came back to New York in 1918. They began a romantic relationship, marrying in 1924. O’Keeffe painted flowers, skyscrapers, and, following trips to New Mexico, bones, which she shipped back in barrels to New York. But the stark beauty of the southwest always beckoned. O’Keeffe visited for long periods and began to acquire property, first at Ghost Ranch and then in Abiquiú. She moved to New Mexico permanently after Stieglitz’s death in 1946.

O’Keeffe carefully nurtured her art, her career, and her persona, earning a place in the center of the New York art world. Her work was featured in a solo exhibition at MoMA in 1946—the museum’s first show devoted to a woman artist. She gained public recognition after a 1968 cover story in Life magazine. In 1997, The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico opened to the public.

Henry Moore was born in 1898 in Castleford, a mining town in the northern English county of Yorkshire. He served in World War I and upon his return, enrolled at the Leeds School of Art as the first student of a new sculpture department. Through the 1920s and ’30s he exhibited at shows in London and worked in a studio in Hampstead in northern London. During the World War II, he served as an Official War Artist, making drawings of Londoners sheltering in the Underground during the Blitz.

In 1940, after his London home was damaged by German bombs, Moore settled permanently at Hoglands, a cottage in Perry Green in Hertfordshire, about 35 miles north of London. He spent the next four decades creating some of the most recognizable works of public sculpture of the 20th century. He was enormously successful and well known. He was honored with a solo exhibition at MoMA in 1946, the same year as O’Keeffe’s. He was appointed to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1948, and participated in the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Today, Moore’s legacy lives on through the Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green and in Leeds. His work is also celebrated in an important suite of galleries at Tate Britain in London and in the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. His sculpture can be found in public spaces across the world.

Hans/Jean Arp & Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Friends, Lovers, Partners

Bozar

20 sept. ‘24 → 19 jan. ‘25 

This autumn, Bozar is devoting a major exhibition to one of the most important artist-

couples in art history: Hans/Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, two central figures of

20th-century abstract art. With over 250 works, the exhibition offers an overview of their

extremely varied artistic oeuvre, encompassing painting, sculpture, drawing, textile,

design and literature. This is the largest retrospective devoted to the Arp and Taeuber-

Arp couple in 35 years.

“From the moment they met in Zurich in 1915, Hans/Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp shared

the same conception of art, namely that there is no hierarchy between the ‘fine arts’ and the

applied arts, between major and minor art, between the visual and the functional,” explains

Walburga Krupp, curator of the exhibition.

Zoë Gray, Director of Exhibitions at Bozar, points out that “Neither Arp nor Taeuber-Arp

allowed their creativity to be bounded by strict disciplines. Indeed, they were ahead of their

time in embracing trans-disciplinarity. That's what makes their work so relevant to us today.”

The exhibition at Bozar is a unique opportunity to rediscover the biomorphic forms, collages

and sculptures of Hans/Jean Arp, as well as the impressive abstract, colourful and

geometric work of Sophie Taeuber-Arp. ‘While during her lifetime she met with international

recognition and commercial success, Taeuber-Arp’s legacy was overshadowed by Arp’s in

the decades following her death, despite his attempts to the contrary recalls Zoë Gray. ‘It is

only in recent years that Taeuber-Arp’s importance has been recognised by institutions and

art historians. This exhibition presents the two artists as equals, tracing the development of

their practices as friends, lovers and partners.”

In addition to their individual artistic creations, the exhibition also

presents the works they produced together, four-handed, from

the very beginning of their relation until Sophie Taeuber-Arp's

untimely death in 1943.\

Walburga Krupp adds: “What distinguishes them from other

artist couples is that they didn't just work together on projects or

commissions. At the end of the 1930s, they also created works

known as ‘duo-works’, in which their mutual influence is

palpable and individuality dissolves. This is what makes the

work of this pair of artists so special.” The exhibition offers a rich overview of the artistic output of the

Arp & Taeuber-Arp couple. More than 250 works (230 paintings,

sculptures, collages, drawings, textiles, jewellery, reliefs; 70

photographs, books, archive documents, etc.) from over 75

international museums, foundations and private collections have

been brought together at Bozar for the occasion. 

Exceptional

European and American loans are coming form MoMA, Tate, Kunstmuseum Basel, Kunsthaus

Zürich, Fondation Arp (Clamart), Fondazione Marguerite Arp (Locarno), Stiftung Arp e.V.,

Berlin/Rolandswerth, Yale University Art Gallery, etc.

Some fifty works in the show have rarely been shown before, and some

are being exhibited for the very first time, including an embroidery by

Sophie Taeuber-Arp from c. 1920, now at the Museum für Gestaltung in

Zurich, which has been restored especially for the exhibition. Another

work that will be shown for the first time is Arp’s watercolour Man and

Woman (1928) - used for the exhibition's campaign image – coming from

a private Belgian collection.

This link with Belgium is no coincidence, since the first international

breakthrough and commercial success for Hans/Jean Arp came in

Brussels, at exhibitions at the gallery L'Époque (May 1928) and the gallery

Le Centaure (Nov 1928). Almost 100 years later, some of his works are

reunited in the Bozar exhibition in Brussels.

The exhibition is curated by Bozar & Walburga

Some fifty works in the show have rarely been shown before, and some

are being exhibited for the very first time, including an embroidery by

Sophie Taeuber-Arp from c. 1920, now at the Museum für Gestaltung in

Zurich, which has been restored especially for the exhibition. Another

work that will be shown for the first time is Arp’s watercolour Man and

Woman (1928) - used for the exhibition's campaign image – coming from

a private Belgian collection.

This link with Belgium is no coincidence, since the first international

breakthrough and commercial success for Hans/Jean Arp came in

Brussels, at exhibitions at the gallery L'Époque (May 1928) and the gallery

Le Centaure (Nov 1928). Almost 100 years later, some of his works are

reunited in the Bozar exhibition in Brussels.

The exhibition is curated by Bozar & Walburga Krupp, one of the leading experts on the life

and work of Sophie Taeuber-Arp. She co-curated the exhibition ‘Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Living

Abstraction’ at the Kunstmuseum Basel, Tate Modern in London and MoMA in New York in

2021-2022. After Bozar, the exhibition will travel to the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in

Høvikodden (near Oslo), Norway, where it will be on show from 20 February to 11 Mayfrom over 75

international museums, foundations and private collections have

been brought together at Bozar for the occasion. Exceptional

European and American loans are coming form MoMA, Tate, Kunstmuseum Basel, Kunsthaus

Zürich, Fondation Arp (Clamart), Fondazione Marguerite Arp (Locarno), Stiftung Arp e.V.,

Berlin/Rolandswerth, Yale University Art Gallery, etc.

	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Untitled, c. 1916, ink and pencil on paper, 19.5 x 23.7 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo: Carlo Reguzzi.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Sans titre, vers 1916, encre et crayon sur papier, 19,5 x 23,7 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo : Carlo Reguzzi.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Zonder titel, ca. 1916, inkt en potlood op papier, 19,5 x 23,7 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024, foto: Carlo Reguzzi.

	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Chair and Bottle, 1926, paint on cardboard, 23 x 30 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Chaise et Bouteille, 1926, peinture sur carton, 23 x 30 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Stoel en fles, 1926, beschilderd karton, 23 x 30 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.

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	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Man and Woman, c. 1928, watercolour and pencil on paper, 22.5 x 30.5 cm. Private collection. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo: Fabien de Cugnac.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Homme et femme, vers 1928, aquarelle et mine de plomb sur papier, 22,5 x 30,5 cm. Collection privée. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo : Fabien de Cugnac.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Man en vrouw, ca. 1928, waterverf en potlood op papier, 22,5 x 30,5 cm. Privéverzameling. © SABAM Belgium 2024, foto: Fabien de Cugnac.

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	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Untitled (Rug), c. 1930, wool (manufactured by Myrbor), 198.1 x 151.1 cm. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund, 1939. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo: 2024©Photo Scala, Florence/The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Sans titre (Tapis), vers 1930, laine (fabriqué par Myrbor), 198,1 x 151,1 cm. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund, 1939. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo : 2024©Photo Scala, Florence/The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Zonder titel (Tapijt), c. 1930, wol (vervaardigd door Myrbor), 198,1 x 151,1 cm. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund, 1939. © SABAM Belgium 2024, foto: 2024©Photo Scala, Florence/The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Leaves IV, 1930, paint on wood, 19 x 34 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Feuilles IV, 1930, peinture sur bois, 19 x 34 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Bladeren IV, 1930, beschilderd hout, 19 x 34 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.

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	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Composition, c. 1929, wool (woven by Alice Frey-Amsler), 69 x 139 cm. Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Germany. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo: Mick Vincenz.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Composition, vers 1929, laine (tissé par Alice Frey-Amsler), 69 x 139 cm. Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Allemagne. © SABAM Belgium 2024, photo : Mick Vincenz.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Compositie, ca. 1929, wol (geweven door Alice Frey-Amsler), 69 x 139 cm. Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Duitsland. © SABAM Belgium 2024, foto: Mick Vincenz.

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	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Head with Annoying Objects, (1933), bronze (3/5, 1971), 23 x 34 x 30 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Trois objets désagréables sur une figure, (1933), bronze (3/5, 1971), 23 x 34 x 30 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Hoofd met drie onaangename objecten, (1933), brons (3/5, 1971), 23 x 34 x 30 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth. © SABAM Belgium 2024.

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	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, The little prince, 1963, collage on painted cardboard (with a fragment of a watercolour by Sophie Taeuber), 68.5 x 23 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Le petit prince, 1963, collage sur carton peint (avec un fragment d'aquarelle de Sophie Taeuber), 68,5 x 23 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, De kleine prins, 1963, collage op beschilderd karton (met een fragment van een aquarel door Sophie Taeuber), 68,5 x 23 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024.

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	EN	Hans/Jean Arp, Poupée, 1962, paint on wood, 26.5 × 7.8 × 3.5 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	FR	Hans/Jean Arp, Poupée, 1962, peinture sur bois, 26,5 × 7,8 × 3,5 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024.
	NL	Hans/Jean Arp, Poupée, 1962, beschilderd hout, 26,5 × 7,8 × 3,5 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © SABAM Belgium 2024.

WORKS SOPHIE TAEUBER-ARP

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Embroidery (Vertical-Horizontal Composition), c. 1917, cotton on canvas, 17 x 11.5 cm. Private collection, on long-term loan to the Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau. © Photo: Peter Schälchli.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Broderie (Composition verticale-horizontale), vers 1917, coton sur toile, 17 x 11,5 cm. Collection privée, en prêt à long terme à l’Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau. © Photo : Peter Schälchli.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Borduurwerk (Verticale-horizontale compositie), ca. 1917, katoen op doek, 17 x 11,5 cm. Privéverzameling, in langdurige bruikleen aan Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau. © Foto: Peter Schälchli.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Portrait H[ans] A[rp], 1918, oil on wood, height: 25 cm, diam.: 9 cm. Private collection.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Portrait H[ans] A[rp], 1918, huile sur bois, hauteur : 25 cm, diam. : 9 cm. Collection privée.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Portret H[ans] A[rp], 1918, olieverf op hout, hoogte: 25 cm, diam.: 9 cm. Privéverzameling.

 

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Guards (marionette for King Stag) (copy 2), 1918 (copy 2: 1993), mixed media, 56 × 18 × 18 cm. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich  , Decorative Arts Collection, ZHdK. © Photo: Umberto Romito & Ivan Šuta, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Decorative Arts Collection, ZHdK.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Gardes (marionnette pour Le Roi Cerf) (copie 2), 1918 (copie 2 : 1993), techniques mixtes, 56 × 18 × 18 cm. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collection Arts décoratifs, ZHdK. © Photo : Umberto Romito & Ivan Šuta, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collection Arts décoratifs, ZHdK.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Bewakers (marionet voor Koning Hert) (kopie 2), 1918 (kopie 2: 1993), mixed media, 56 × 18 × 18 cm. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collectie Decoratieve Kunsten, ZHdK. © Photo: Umberto Romito & Ivan Šuta, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collectie Decoratieve Kunsten, ZHdK.

 

ARP24_265 

	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Deramo, The King (marionette for King Stag) (copy), 1918 (copy: 1989), mixed media, 60 x 15 x 9 cm. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Decorative Arts Collection, ZHdK. © Photo: Umberto Romito & Ivan Šuta, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Decorative Arts Collection, ZHdK.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Deramo, Le Roi (marionnette pour Le Roi Cerf) (copie), 1918 (copie : 1989), techniques mixtes, 60 x 15 x 9 cm. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collection Arts décoratifs, ZHdK. © Photo : Umberto Romito & Ivan Šuta, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collection Arts décoratifs, ZHdK.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Deramo, De Koning (marionet voor Koning Hert) (kopie), 1918 (kopie: 1989), mixed media, 60 x 15 x 9 cm. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collectie Decoratieve Kunsten, ZHdK. © Foto: Umberto Romito & Ivan Šuta, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Collectie Decoratieve Kunsten, ZHdK.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Siena, Houses, Animals, gouache and pencil on brown paper, 18.7 x 19.5 cm. Etienne Bréton / Saint-Honoré Art Consulting.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Sienne, maisons, animaux, gouache et crayon sur papier brun, 18,7 x 19,5 cm. Etienne Bréton / Saint-Honoré Art Consulting.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Siena, huizen, dieren, gouache en potlood op bruin papier, 18,7 x 19,5 cm. Etienne Bréton / Saint-Honoré Art Consulting.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Quadrangular Strokes, Evoking and Framing Figures, 1920, gouache and pencil on paper on board. Bischofberger Collection, Männedorf-Zürich, Switzerland.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Taches quadrangulaires évoquant et encadrant des personnages, 1920, gouache et crayon sur papier sur carton. Collection Bischofberger, Männedorf-Zürich, Suisse.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Vierhoekige strepen die figuren oproepen en omlijsten, 1920, gouache en potlood op papier op karton. Collectie Bischofberger, Männedorf-Zürich, Zwitserland.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Tapestry, 1924, wool and cotton, 40 x 50 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © Photo: Roberto Pellegrini, Bellinzona.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Tapisserie, 1924, laine et coton, 40 x 50 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © Photo : Roberto Pellegrini, Bellinzona.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Wandtapijt, 1924, wol en katoen, 40 x 50 cm. Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno. © Foto: Roberto Pellegrini, Bellinzona.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Aubette 198 (design for three walls of the Aubette Bar in the Aubette, Strasbourg, France), 1927, gouache, metallic paint, pencil, ink and coloured ink on diazotype on board, 22 x 73 cm. Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg, France. © Musées de la ville de Strasbourg, M. Bertola.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Aubette 198 (projet pour trois murs de l’Aubette-Bar à l’Aubette, Strasbourg, France), 1927, gouache, peinture métallique, crayon, encre et encre de couleur sur diazotype sur carton, 22 x 73 cm. Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg, France. © Musées de la ville de Strasbourg, M. Bertola.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Aubette 198 (ontwerp voor drie muren van de Aubette Bar in de Aubette, Straatsburg, Frankrijk), 1927, gouache, metallic verf, potlood, inkt en gekleurde inkt op diazotype op karton, 22 x 73 cm. Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg, Frankrijk. © Musées de la ville de Strasbourg, M. Bertola.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Circle Picture, 1931, oil on canvas, 64.5 x 92 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel, inv. no. G 1968.105, Gift of Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach 1968. © Bilddaten gemeinfrei - Kunstmuseum Basel, photo: Martin P. Bühler.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Peinture à cercles, 1931, huile sur toile, 64,5 x 92 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel, n° inv. G 1968.105, Don de Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach 1968. © Bilddaten gemeinfrei - Kunstmuseum Basel, photo : Martin P. Bühler.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Cirkelbeeld, 1931, olieverf op doek, 64,5 x 92 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel, inv.nr. G 1968.105, Schenking van Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach 1968. © Bilddaten gemeinfrei - Kunstmuseum Basel, foto: Martin P. Bühler.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Relief, 1937-38, oil on wood. Private collection.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Relief, 1937-1938, huile sur bois. Collection privée.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Reliëf, 1937-1938, olieverf op hout. Privéverzameling.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Gradation, 1934, oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm. Private collection, Switzerland. © Photo: Luis Lourenço.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Échelonnement, 1934, huile sur toile, 65 x 50 cm. Collection privée, Suisse. © Photo : Luis Lourenço.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Gradatie, 1934, olieverf op doek, 65 x 50 cm. Privéverzameling, Zwitserland. © Foto: Luis Lourenço.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Head, 1937, wood, height: 38.9 cm, diam.: 19.7 cm. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Jean Arp in memory of Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Tête, 1937, bois, hauteur: 38,9 cm, diam.: 19,7 cm. Yale University Art Gallery, Don de Jean Arp à la mémoire de Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Hoofd, 1937, hout, hoogte: 38,9 cm, diam.: 19,7 cm. Yale University Art Gallery, Schenking van Jean Arp ter nagedachtenis aan Sophie Taeuber-Arp.

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	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Movement of Coloured Lines, 1940, coloured pencil and pencil on paper, 26.3 x 34.5 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Mouvement de lignes en couleurs, 1940, crayon de couleur et crayon sur papier, 26,3 x 34,5 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Beweging van gekleurde lijnen, 1940, kleurpotlood en potlood op papier, 26,3 x 34,5 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth.

RP24_103 

	EN	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Geometric Construction, 1942, ink, pencil, and gouache on paper, 25.2 x 20.9 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth.
	FR	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Construction géométrique¸1942, encre, crayon et gouache sur papier, 25,2 x 20,9 cm. Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth.
	NL	Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Geometrische constructie, 1942, inkt, potlood en gouache op papier, 25,2 x 20,9 cm. Stiftung   Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth.

Book: Art in a State of Siege

 What do artworks look like in extreme cases of collective experience? What signals do artists send when enemies are at the city walls and the rule of law breaks down, or when a tyrant suspends the law to attack from inside? Art in a State of Siege tells the story of three compelling images created in dangerous moments and the people who experienced them—from Philip II of Spain to Carl Schmitt—whose panicked gaze turned artworks into omens.

Acclaimed art historian Joseph Koerner reaches back to the eve of iconoclasm and religious warfare to explore the most elusive painting ever painted. 

In Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Delights, enemies are everywhere: Jews and Ottomans at the gates, witches and heretics at home, sins overtaking the mind. 

Following a paper trail leading from Bosch’s time to World War II, Koerner considers 

a monumental self-portrait painted by Max Beckmann in 1927. Created when Germany was often governed by emergency decree, this image brazenly claimed to decide Europe’s future—until the Nazis deemed it to be a threat to the German people. For South African artist William Kentridge, Beckmann exemplified “art in a state of siege.” Koerner shows how his work served as beacon during South Africa’s racialist apartheid rule and inspired Kentridge’s breakthrough animations of drawings being made, erased, and remade.

Spanning half a millennium but urgent today, Art in a State of Siege reveals how, in dire straits, art becomes the currency of last resort.

Joseph Leo Koerner is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History of Art and Architecture and Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University, and Senior Fellow of Harvard’s Society of Fellows. The author of Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life (Princeton) and Caspar David Friedrich and the Subject of Landscape, he has written and presented documentaries for the BBC and wrote, produced, and directed The Burning Child, a feature film on Viennese homemaking in the shadow of the Holocaust.

Praise

"[Art in a State of Siege is ] an engrossing ride. . . . [A] rewarding read."—Kirkus Reviews

“Devastating and necessary, Art in a State of Siege illuminates the violent, political, and ethical underpinnings of art history. Koerner, one of the most important historians writing today, recognizes the impossibility of separating the process of history from our individual and collective traumas under siege.”—Caroline Fowler, author of Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art

“Art in a State of Siege may be Joseph Koerner’s most brilliant book to date, which is saying a great deal. It is also unarguably his most political, and in more than one respect his most fiercely personal. No brief commentary can begin to do justice to the complexity of Koerner’s thinking on every page, or indeed to the intellectual passion, which is the stamp of his considerable achievement.”—Michael Fried, author of The Moment of Caravaggio

“The enemy surrounds us. The walls that we thought were secure are quickly breached. Even as the death count begins to rise, we rage not against the faceless, anonymous foe but against our own neighbors whom we now regard as the most lethal enemies of all. For thousands of years and throughout the world, such has been the recurrent nightmare of human societies. In this startlingly original book, weaving together brilliant interpretations of three major early modern, modern, and contemporary artists, Joseph Koerner provides a new and critically important theory of the function of art in a beleaguered world. Art in a State of Siege is essential reading for our time.”—Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

“In this masterful triptych, Joseph Koerner reads art history as an ever-changing and unresolved conundrum of power and powerlessness, enmity and humanism, siege and redemption. Rich in surprising twists and uncanny connections, Art in a State of Siege is a brilliantly enlightening book on the perils and promise of art.”—Daniel Jütte, author of Transparency: The Material History of an Idea

“Art in a State of Siege reads like an alchemical manual containing the secret formulas, hidden in plain sight, out of which an ongoingly good art history can be written. Joseph Koerner’s book is a tour de force.”—Alexander Nemerov, author of The Forest: A Fable of America in the 1830s

C C Land: The Wonder Of Art

 

National Gallery, London

10 May 2025 - 09 May 2026

The National Gallery is undertaking a major redisplay of its collection, today announced as C C Land: The Wonder of Art. 

'C C Land: The Wonder of Art' will display over 1,000 works as part of the Gallery’s free offering at Trafalgar Square, including the most renowned and beloved works collected for the nation over the last 200 years, which will hang alongside new loans of works by Andrea Mantegna, Anthony van Dyck, William Hogarth and Vincent van Gogh and acquisitions by Nicolas Poussin, Eva Gonzalèz, Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas and a few surprises still to come.

Visitors can see the completed redisplay from 10 May 2025, to coincide with the opening to the public of the transformed Sainsbury Wing after more than two years of building works, reshaping the National Gallery for its third century and the next generation of visitors.

'The Wonder of Art' will follow a broadly chronological arrangement, with medieval and Renaissance pictures displayed in the Sainsbury Wing and later paintings in the Wilkins Building. It will include a range of more thematic interventions, such as ‘The Spectacle of Portraiture’, ‘Flowers’ and ‘Still Life’. Some newly restored works will be shown for the first time in several years, including the Pollaiuolo brothers’ The Martyrdom of San Sebastian and Jan van Eyck’s Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?).

A series of rooms will feature the work of individual artists, marking the first time the Gallery’s works by Titian and Claude Monet will each be brought together. Other artists in focus include Peter Paul Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt and Thomas Gainsborough. One new display focusses on Charles I (1600‒1649) as a collector and includes major loans from the Royal Collection.

We will reveal more about the making and meaning of art, including the importance of gold from 1260-1550; the use of the oil sketch to record nature; and the impact of pastel as a new medium.

'C C Land: The Wonder of Art' will also show anew how artists were inspired by those working before them. Specific pairings celebrating ‘artists looking at artists’ will include Vigée Le Brun’s Self Portrait in a Straw Hat, inspired by Rubens’s Portrait of Susanna Lunden(?) (‘Le Chapeau de Paille’), as well as Rembrandt’s Self Portrait at the Age of 34 , which is modelled on Titian’s Portrait of Gerolamo(?) Barbarigo.

The Gallery has drawn on years of research about our audiences, the type of stories they find most engaging and how they prefer to access them. This informs our new layered approach to the interpretation, which sets the collection in context, explores key themes and artists and integrates print with digital information.  

Visitors are able to access information about the collection in multiple ways: from printed panels and labels on the walls, by scanning paintings with their smart phones for more in-depth digital content, to listening to a range of voices speaking from different perspectives in our new audio guide. We have also significantly enhanced our free interpretation offer for visitors with a range of access requirements. 

The rehang is already in progress with some rooms being closed between now and May 2025 to facilitate the moving of paintings and refurbishment of the galleries. This will be carried out in stages to ensure the Gallery can keep as many rooms open to the public for as much time as possible.

Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, said: 'C C Land: The Wonder of Art has been in the making at the National Gallery for several years. Our Bicentenary provides the perfect opportunity to consider a new way to tell the story of the incredible paintings in our collection, and include some exciting surprises.'

Christine Riding, Director of Collections and Research, said: 'This is the first time in over 30 years that we have had such an exciting opportunity to rethink, and refresh, how we present one of the greatest art collections in the world, under one roof. Our visitors will discover anew some of the most famous and iconic works of art ever created, alongside personal favourites and recent discoveries and acquisitions.'

Dr Peter Lam, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of C C Land, said: 'The National Gallery's Bicentenary is a momentous occasion, and we at C C Land are delighted to be a part of it. 'C C Land: The Wonder of Art' will not only transform the visitor experience but also leave a lasting legacy for years to come. We believe in the power of art and are confident this redisplay will inspire and engage audiences for generations, aligning with our own long-term vision for sustainable growth and community impact.'

IMAGES

Full title	Self Portrait at the Age of 34
Artist	Rembrandt
Artist dates	1606 - 1669
Date made	1640
Medium and support	oil on canvas
Dimensions	91 × 75 cm
Inscription summary	Signed; Dated and inscribed
Acquisition credit	Bought, 1861

Full title	Portrait of Susanna Lunden(?) ('Le Chapeau de Paille')
Artist	Peter Paul Rubens
Artist dates	1577 - 1640
Date made	probably 1622-5
Medium and support	oil on wood
Dimensions	79 × 54.6 cm
Acquisition credit	Bought, 1871

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Full title	Self Portrait in a Straw Hat
Artist	Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
Artist dates	1755 - 1842
Date made	1782
Medium and support	oil on canvas
Dimensions	97.8 × 70.5 cm
Acquisition credit	Bought, 1897

 

Full title	Portrait of Gerolamo (?) Barbarigo
Artist	Titian
Artist dates	active about 1506; died 1576
Date made	about 1510
Medium and support	oil on canvas
Dimensions	81.2 × 66.3 cm
Inscription summary	Signed
Acquisition credit	Bought, 1904

 

 

Full title	Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter
Artist	Thomas Gainsborough
Artist dates	1727 - 1788
Date made	about 1748
Medium and support	oil on canvas
Dimensions	92.1 × 70.5 cm
Acquisition credit	Acquired under the acceptance-in-lieu scheme at the wish of Sybil, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, in memory of her brother, Sir Philip Sassoon, 1994