From September 27, 2024, to January 26, 2025, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi presents Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules, a major exhibition celebrating one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. Frankenthaler’s revolutionary approach to painting is explored through works produced between 1953 and 2002, in dialogue with paintings and sculptures by contemporary artists, including Jackson Pollock, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Mark Rothko, David Smith, Anthony Caro, and Anne Truitt.
Organized by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, and curated by Douglas Dreishpoon, Director of the Helen Frankenthaler Catalogue Raisonné, the exhibition aims to highlight the artist's innovative practice through the lens of the artistic affinities, influences, and friendships that marked her personal and artistic life.
Through large canvases and sculptures by Frankenthaler and numerous works by other artists, the project stands as one of the most important exhibitions ever dedicated to the artist in Europe and the most comprehensive survey of her work to date in Italy. Loans come from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in New York and renowned international museums and collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, National Gallery of Art in Washington, ASOM Collection, and the Levett Collection, as well as Helen Frankenthaler’s own personal collection.
With her innovative soak-stain technique, Frankenthaler indelibly marked the evolution of modern painting, establishing a new relationship between color, space, and form. The technique involved applying diluted paint horizontally on untreated canvases, creating effects similar to watercolor but with oil paints on a large scale. Frankenthaler applied paint with brushes or sponges, or directly from buckets, allowing it to spread and blend naturally, creating unique chromatic interactions marked by blurred transitions and translucent overlays.