AARHUS.- ARoS is presenting the largest Julian Schnabel-exhibition to date in the Scandinavian countries. Many of the artworks are from Schnabel’s own collection and have never been exhibited publicly. Julian Schnabel is seen as one of the leading protagonists of painting in the last half of the 20th century and still influences painting today.

ARoS has put in more than two years of work to make this exhibition possible, closely collaborating with the artist and designed by interior architect Louise Kugelberg. Exploring new possibilities and stepping out of our comfort zone is an inherent part of the spirit of ARoS. Consequently, the organizers have enjoyed a great deal of surprises in the development of this exhibition and he has created a structure that enlightens the museum guests the moment they enter his universe, says museum director Erlend G. Høyersten, ARoS.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1951, Julian Schnabel today divides his time between New York City and Montauk, Long Island. The pivotal role he played in the return of figurative and narrative painting in the late 1970s turned him into its most prominent figure. Throughout his career Schnabel has been exploring the boundaries of painting, and he is known for his constant experimentation with surfaces, scale, materials and great gesture, not only the physical gesture, but the gesture of idea.

Three of the works, at the entrance of the exhibition were made for the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France in 1990 and resided there for four years. Schnabel has made works for unusual spaces that speak to architecture, most recently six 6 x 6-meter paintings that were installed outside in the courtyard of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for five months by Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Schnabel’s work has been presented in many of the world’s most preeminent museums, and is held in major collections, such as the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate, London; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid and Museum of Modern Art, New York.

An Oscar-nominated painter
In 1996 Schnabel wrote and directed the movie Basquiat about New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Schnabel’s second film, Before Night Falls, won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Coppa Volpi for best actor to Javier Bardem in 2000 at the Venice Film Festival. In 2007 Schnabel directed his third film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Schnabel received the prize for best director at Cannes Film Festival and best director at the Golden Globe Awards, where the film also won the award for Best Foreign Language Film. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was nominated for four Oscars. Schnabel’s latest film, At Eternity’s Gate, about Vincent van Gogh premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2018, where Willem Dafoe won the Coppa Volpi for best actor and Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen gave a riveting performance as the priest responsible for letting Vincent van Gogh out of the asylum.

Director of l’Insitut d’historie de l’art in Paris Eric de Chassey, contributes his profound knowledge of Schnabel’s painting as well as artists Laurie Anderson’s poetic description of her personal relationship with the artist. The catalogue begins with a foreword by museum director Erlend G. Høyersten and Rasmus Stenbakken. The exhibition designer Louise Kugelberg contributed extensively to the catalogue that ARoS publish about the exhibition.

The exhibition is curated and designed by Julian Schnabel and Louise Kugelberg.