Philip Guston: The Irony of History

From October 14, 2025, to March 1, 2026, the Musée national Picasso-Paris presents a major exhibition devoted to the work of Philip Guston, displayed across the ground floor and basement of the hôtel Salé. Centered on Guston’s drawings inspired by Philip Roth’s satirical novel “Our Gang,” the exhibition explores the dynamic interplay between the artist’s caricatural, politically charged sketches and the expressive force of his paintings.

Guston’s engagement with satire and social critique begins early: in the 1920s, he is expelled from art school in Los Angeles for producing satirical images of his instructors. Throughout his career, art remains a tool for confronting authority and injustice—his early works exposing KKK violence are even vandalized during a public exhibition.

By the late 1960s, after establishing himself as a leading figure of the New York School, Guston shocks the art world by abandoning pure abstraction in favor of figurative painting inspired by comic books. During this period, he becomes neighbors with Philip Roth, who is writing a satirical novel about President Nixon and his administration. Guston produces over 80 drawings echoing Roth’s text, drawing inspiration from Picasso’s illustrations for “Songes et mensonges de Franco,” the politically charged caricatures of George Grosz, and the humor of American newspaper cartoons by George Herriman.

The exhibition traces Guston’s journey from the biting humor of the “Nixon Drawings” series to his final paintings, revealing the seamless exchange of energy between grotesque satire and painterly expression. His work, marked by dark humor and caustic depth, positions him as a visual counterpart to literary figures such as Kafka and Gogol.

Presented with the generous support of the Philip Guston Foundation, his daughter Musa Mayer, Renée McKee, and F. X. et N. de Mallmann, the exhibition includes the complete series of “Nixon Drawings” alongside previously unseen works.