Helen Frankenthaler

With over fifty works from six decades, the exhibition offers extensive insight into the expansive oeuvre of a preeminent figure of American abstraction. Helen Frankenthaler’s intensely colorful paintings, typically in large formats, light up the galleries and engage viewers. This exhibition is her first institutional solo show in Switzerland.

A pioneering representative of Abstract Expressionism, Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) occupies a central position in postwar American art. Her soak-stain technique revolutionized abstract painting and catalyzed the development of color field painting in the U.S. from the mid-1950s onward. A particular focus of this exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel is on her probing engagement with historic art she admired, which inspired many works throughout her career. Frankenthaler’s paintings will be shown in conversation with artworks ranging from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, a juxtaposition that enriches our understanding of her abstract art.

At the age of twenty-three, Frankenthaler developed the soak-stain technique: applying diluted paint to unprimed canvases she laid out on the floor, she created luminous compositions. She manipulated the paint from all sides, using sponges, scrapers, household brushes, and other tools. As a result, the canvas absorbed the pigments, yielding distinctive effects: fabric and color became one.

In addition to creating paintings on canvas and paper, Frankenthaler also worked in other media; her fine art prints, in particular, have won acclaim.