Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules, a major exhibition celebrating one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. Frankenthaler’s revolutionary approach to painting is explored through works produced between 1953 and 2002 in dialogue with paintings and sculptures by contemporary peers, including Jackson Pollock, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Mark Rothko, David Smith, Anthony Caro, and Anne Truitt. The show aims to highlight the artist's innovative practice through the lens of the artistic affinities, influences, and friendships that graced her personal and artistic life.

Through her innovative soak-stain technique, Frankenthaler set a new course for modern painting, establishing a new relationship between color, space, and form. The technique involved applying diluted paint on untreated monumental canvases laid out on the studio floor, creating effects similar to watercolor, first with oil, then acrylic paint. Frankenthaler applied paint with brushes and sponges, or directly from buckets, allowing it to spread and blend naturally, creating unique chromatic interactions marked by blurred transitions and translucent overlays.