This month is your last chance to catch Matisse/Diebenkorn, the gorgeous special exhibition at SFMOMA that closes on May 29. The show’s striking beauty and unexpected connections make it a must-see for anyone who loves history, art, design, or stories of creative inspiration. NPR writes, “In the art of this knockout show, you can almost hear the artists speaking to one another.” The Wall Street Journal called it “a stunningly beautiful display.”
Matisse/Diebenkorn is the first major exhibition to explore the profound inspiration Bay Area artist Richard Diebenkorn discovered in the work of Henri Matisse. Diebenkorn first became captivated by Matisse’s work as a Stanford University student. Over the course of four decades, he was deeply influenced by the great French painter, while forging a style entirely his own.
The exhibition unfolds across the arc of Diebenkorn’s career and reveals how much the two painters share in their use of lush, vibrant, joyful color; attentiveness to structure and composition; choice of subject matter; and the richly layered surfaces of their canvases. Nearly 60 artworks by Diebenkorn hang in direct dialogue with 40 works by Matisse. See their art side by side for the first time, and encounter a surprising new view of two of the twentieth century’s most extraordinary painters.
Learn more at the exhibition website here.
This post is brought to you by SFMOMA.