Francis Picabia: Expanding Horizons

Francis Picabia (1879 – 1953) is one of the most influential and essential artists of the 20th Century. His career and worldview were marked by ceaseless experimentation, and his oeuvre demonstrated a rapid progression through various artistic movements, which included Impressionism, Fauvism, Dadaism and Cubism.

Organised in collaboration with the Comité Picabia, this wide-ranging overview covers five decades of creative output, from his early landscapes, Dada works and Transparencies through to his radical nudes, realist works made during World War II and textural abstract paintings created in his final years. Shedding light across every area of the artist’s practice, this exhibition highlights his fluid movement between figurative art and abstraction, affirming Picabia’s reputation as one of art history’s most ingenious shape shifters.

Offering a rare glimpse into Francis Picabia’s practice before he began his many self-reinventions, his 1902 landscape—the earliest work on view—attests to his Impressionist period at the start of his career. His approach began to shift as early as 1908, albeit subtly, towards Neo-impressionism and he broadened his horizon to encompass Fauvism and Cubism. This spirit of creative renewal is encapsulated in ‘Le Zèbre (The Zebra)’ (ca. 1909 – 1933), which presents a Neo-impressionist coastal scene in the background. This was later superimposed with a playful line drawing in the 1930s, emblematic of the artist’s tendency to revisit and revise canvases across decades. ‘Untitled’ (ca. 1911) sees Picabia’s landscapes moving even further from Impressionism, with simplified forms bordering on abstraction.