Painterly Abstraction, 1949–1969: Selections from the Guggenheim Collections

Based mainly around works in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao collections, this exhibition explores the most important trends in European and American art in the 1950s and 1960s, revealing the surprising affinities in art on both continents. In Europe, the CoBrA group, Tachisme, and Art Informel rejected traditional forms of composition in favor of more gestural painting, while other European artists explored a number of approaches they considered more scientific, objective, and interactive in nature. In the United States, the Abstract Expressionists were also interested in the process of making art and had an overwhelming fascination with the unconscious mind and emotional states. With the appearance of Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, and Pop art, New York became the new center for the international avant-garde. Included in the exhibition are works by major artists such as Karel Appel, Alberto Burri, Willem de Kooning, Ellsworth Kelly, Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni, Jackson Pollock, and Antoni Tàpies, among others.