Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules
04.11.2025 - 09.28.2025
Helen Frankenthaler (b. 1928; d. 2011), best known for her invention of the soak-stain technique, played a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting. A tireless experimenter over the course of six decades, the artist produced a prolific stream of paintings on canvas and paper, in addition to sculptures, ceramics, tapestries, and print editions. Her innovative work, represented in the collections of major museums worldwide, continues to inspire contemporary artists.
Born in New York City, Frankenthaler studied studio art with Paul Feeley at Bennington College, in Vermont, before returning to Manhattan, where she gravitated to abstract art. By the early 1950s she had gained direct access to key figures in the New York School—icons of postwar American art—all of whom shared her unwavering commitment to experimentation, some of whom became part of her inner social circle.
Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules contextualizes the painter’s creative output through the lens of her artistic affinities, influences, and friendships. Comprising thirty of Frankenthaler’s poetic abstractions created between 1953 and 2002, the exhibition also features select paintings and sculptures by some of her contemporaries—Anthony Caro, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and David Smith—highlighting the synergies between these artists.
Painting Without Rules is designed chronologically, decade to decade, beginning with the 1950s and ending in the 2000s. Each section, paced by a curatorial text, represents another chapter of Frankenthaler’s prolific career. The exhibition celebrates the legacy of a pioneering artist who never stopped exploring new ways to make abstract art.
The exhibition is organized by the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York, in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and it is curated by Douglas Dreishpoon, Director of the Helen Frankenthaler Catalogue Raisonné.
Gallery: 105
Helen Frankenthaler
Moveable Blue, 1973
Acrylic on canvas
177.8 x 617.8 cm
ASOM Collection
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: © ASOM Collection
The Exhibition
Helen Frankenthaler
Open Wall, 1953
Oil on canvas
136.5 x 332.7 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian
Helen Frankenthaler
Western Dream, 1957
Oil on canvas
177.8 x 218.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2023 (2023.560)
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian
Helen Frankenthaler
Tutti-Frutti, 1966
Acrylic on canvas
296.6 x 175.3 cm
Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1976 K1976:8
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Brenda Bieger, Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Helen Frankenthaler
The Human Edge, 1967
Acrylic on canvas
315 x 236.9 cm
Collection Everson Museum of Art, Museum purchase to honor Director Max Sullivan on the opening of the I.M. Pei building 68.23
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: courtesy Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse
Helen Frankenthaler
Ocean Drive West #1, 1974
Acrylic on canvas
238,8 x 365,8 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New york / VEGAP
Photo: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian
Helen Frankenthaler
Mornings, 1971
Acrylic on canvas
294.6 x 185.4 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian
Helen Frankenthaler
Eastern Light, 1982
Acrylic on canvas
175,3 x 301 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian
Helen Frankenthaler
Star Gazing, 1989
Acrylic on canvas
181.6 x 365.8 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Tim Pyle, courtesy Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
Helen Frankenthaler
Janus, 1990
Acrylic on canvas
144.8 x 240.7 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Dan Bradica, courtesy Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
Helen Frankenthaler
The Rake's Progress, 1991
Acrylic on canvas
240 x 174 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian
Helen Frankenthaler
Southern Exposure, 2002
Acrylic on paper
153.7 x 187.6 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Dan Bradica, courtesy Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
Helen Frankenthaler
Driving East, 2002
Acrylic on canvas
132.4 x 207 cm
Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, Canada
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Michael Visser
David Smith
Portrait of the Eagle’s Keeper, 1948-49
Steel, bronze
96.5 x 32.7 x 57.8 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© The Estate of David Smith / VAGA, New York / VEGAP, Bilbao, 2025
Kenneth Noland
Helen’s Choice, 1977
Acrylic and graphite on canvas
239.1 x 174 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© Kenneth Noland / VEGAP, Bilbao, 2025
Photo: Thomas Barratt, courtesy Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
Helen Frankenthaler
Matisse Table, 1972
Steel
209,6 x 134,6 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP
Photo: Jeffrey Sturges, courtesy Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
Anthony Caro
Ascending the Stairs, 1979-83
Steel and sheet, varnished
111.8 x 83.8 x 101.6 cm
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
© Anthony Caro, VEGAP, Bilbao 2025
Photo: Thomas Barratt, courtesy Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
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