Last Chance To Catch This Art Spectacular, Hailed "The Show Of The Season"

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Last Chance To Catch This Art Spectacular, Hailed "The Show Of The Season"

This is a sponsored article on behalf of Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Photo: Alick Cotterill

Helen Frankenthaler was one of the 20th century's great abstract artists — a genius whose woodcuts were pioneering in the world of printmaking.

Dulwich Picture Gallery's highly-acclaimed show — Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty — flaunts many of the artist's finest works, giving unparalleled insight into how she changed the artistic landscape with her expanses of colour and fluid forms.

But all good things must end, and there's only a limited time to catch this five-star exhibition.

Tales of Genji III, 1998. Fifty-three color woodcut © 2021 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / ARS, NY and DACS, London / Tyler Graphic Ltd., Mount Kisco, NY

Explore dozens of Frankenthaler's works in the historic Dulwich Picture Gallery — including East and Beyond (1973), created by printing onto multiple blocks to avoid negative space, and Cameo (1980) in which Frankenthaler experimented with a layered approach, working surfaces with sandpaper... and dentist drills!

You'll also get to admire the artist's staggering masterpiece, the two-metre-long Madame Butterfly (2000). Composed of 46 woodblocks and 102 colours, it shows off Frankenthaler at her lyrical best. (It's so sublime, an entire room of the gallery is dedicated to displaying it.)

Helen Frankenthaler paints onto a plexiglass sheet atop the handcoloured paper pulp backing for her work 'Freefall' at Tyler Graphics, Mount Kisco, 22 September 1992. Photo by Marabeth Cohen-Tyler, 1992. Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002. Courtesy: National Gallery of Australia.

And that's not all. The Monet x Frankenthaler display puts two great artworks — one by the French Impressionist, the other by the American trailblazer — side by side, exploring similarities in ambition and approach. (By the way, this bonus display is included in the price of the main exhibition.)

Madame Butterfly, 2000. One-hundred-two colour woodcut © 2021 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / ARS, NY and DACS, London / Tyler Graphic Ltd., Mount Kisco, NY

All in all, this is a must-see show — but don't take our word for it. The Observer praises Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty as "The show of the season, if not the year" ★★★★★ while the Evening Standard hails it as "Revelatory". ★★★★★. Not too shoddy.

Claude Monet, Water Lilies and Agapanthus, 1914–1917, Oil on canvas, 140 × 120 cm. Michel Monet bequest, 1966. Inv. 5084. © Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.

And now for the bad news — you've only got until 18 April to catch this incredible show. So drop whatever you're doing, and bag yourself a ticket before it's too late. Advance booking, by the way, is essential.

A view of the empty gallery, wall adorned with Helen Frankenthaler paintings
Photo: Graham Turner

Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty, Dulwich Picture Gallery, adults £16.50*, concessions £8/£5. Advance booking essential, until 18 April 2022

*Includes an optional gift aid donation

Last Updated 01 April 2022