FRANCIS

PICABIA

By exhibiting Francis Picabia (1879 -1953), who will have retrospectives next year in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Kunsthaus Zürich, Galerie Michael Haas presents one of the 20th century’s most fascinating artist.

Francis Picabia was an eccentric, a free thinker and a passionate painter. For a long time, he made it difficult for art historians and critics, who like to classify, assign and seek continuity in an artist’s work. He enthralled his public time and again over the decades, and the quality and innovative power of his art has long been beyond dispute. Hardly any other 20th century artist possesses an œuvre as divergent as that of Picabia. He was repeatedly inspired by leading artists, for instance in Paris and New York, and experimented with various styles – from Impressionism, to Cubism, Surrealism and even Dadaism and Realism. Hewas often a trailblazer, initiator or leading protagonist – for example amongst the Dadaists in Paris. Nothing bored him more than adhering to one school of thought for too long or falling victim to an ‘ism’. The Frenchman inspired subsequent generations of artists, such as Sigmar Polke, Martin Kippenberger, David Salle and Julian Schnabel.

Our exhibition will show a cross section of his work.