If the world doesn’t end completely, as some people actually believe, there is a lot to live for next year. Let’s take a brief look at the art highlights of 2012…
Lucien Freud, Reflection with Two Children
With the sad passing of Lucien Freud on 21st July 2011, the British master’s oeuvre is complete. To celebrate his psychologically penetrating and often discomforting portraits, the National Portrait Gallery, London, hosts the retrospective Lucien Freud Portraits between 9th February and 27th May 2012.
Damien Hirst, Methoxyverapamil, 1991, image from http://www.gagosian.com
Hate it or love it, 2012 is the year of Damien Hirst. Beginning with The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, Gagosian Gallery will exhibit over 300 paintings at once across eleven locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and Hong Kong. Dotted across the world between 12th January and 18th February, this exhibition features everything from Hirst’s first spot painting, consisting of 1 dot measuring 1 x 1.5 inches, to his most recent piece containing 25,781 spots measuring 1mm in diameter.
Tate Modern will be hosting the first substantial survey of Damien Hirst’s work between 4th April and 12th September 2012. This huge exhibition features sensational pieces such as The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), and In and Out of Love (1991), which will be shown in its entirety for the first time since its creation. The exhibition coincides with the London Olympics 2012, so if you’re bored of watching people swimming, why not find some respite with a shark suspended in formaldehyde.
Paul Cézanne, Apples and Oranges (circa 1899), oil on canvas
Standing out in particular next year is The Stein’s Collect at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Arguably the most influential patrons of Modernist art, Gertrude Stein and her brothers Leo and Michael collected works by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Renoir and many more. This momentous exposition features over 200 works from their collection, and runs between 28th February and 3rd June 2012.
What will you do with your 365 days? Happy New Year!
Artfinder.
