Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules

Exhibition at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 27 September 2024 - 25 January 2025

Going beyond the established canons in a relentless quest for new expressive freedom. This is the creative universe of Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), one of the most influential figures of the twentieth-century American art movement, renowned for her innovative approach to art and her fundamental role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to the Color Field movement.

With her innovative technique of smudging and splattering paint, Helen Frankenthaler explored a new relationship between colour and form, expanding the potential of abstract painting in a way that still inspires artists today.

This exhibition catalogue presents an overview of the American artist's work and examines in depth the evolution of her style through the different periods of her career. A selection of paintings and sculptures, produced between 1953 and 2002, are presented in dialogue with the work of her artistic peers, including Anthony Caro, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, David Smith and Anne Truitt.