BERLIN.- The Neue Nationalgalerie is presenting Brazilian artist Lygia Clark’s (1920–1988) first retrospective in Germany. With around 120 artworks, the comprehensive exhibition in the upper hall shows her oeuvre from the late 1940s to the 1980s, ranging from geometric-abstract paintings to participatory sculptures and performances. The interactive approach in Clark’s work is a central aspect of the exhibition. Visitors can interact with a large number of replicas created especially for the show.


👐 Experience art beyond the canvas! Dive into the revolutionary work of Lygia Clark.


Klaus Biesenbach, Director of Neue Nationalgalerie: "We are delighted to present Lygia Clark, one of the most important and yet – in Germany – least known artists of the 20th century. For the first time in Berlin, a large public will be able to discover her important, influential and engaging work presented comprehensively at Neue Nationalgalerie.”

Lygia Clark is regarded as a radical innovator as she fundamentally redefined the relationship between artist and viewer, artwork and space. As a leading figure of Neoconcretismo (the Neo-Concrete movement), initiated in Rio de Janeiro in 1959, she understood art as an organic phenomenon. She demanded a subjective, body related and sensorial art experience, which included the viewer’s active participation. This participatory approach within Clark’s work will be available for visitors to experience through interaction with exhibition copies. In addition, regular performanc- es will activate the work of this outstanding twentieth-century artist.

Lygia Clark's approach to understanding art as a participatory, sensual, or even therapeutic experience makes her internationally one of the most innovative artists of the twentieth century. Her work testifies to her close connections with European Modernity, particularly Concrete Art, but also to her emancipation from them. Clark profoundly influenced later generations with her art and, even today, she is a major source of inspiration for contemporary artists. The extraordinary significance of her works lies in the fact that she expanded the primacy of the visual to include other sen- sory perceptions such as hearing, feeling, smelling and touching. In this way, passive viewers became active participants in an individual art experience.

At the beginning of her career, Lygia Clark made geometric-abstract paintings. After 1954, she began rupturing the canvas. Her relief-like wood panels created a connection to space. With the founding of the neo-concrete movement, she took the step into three-dimensional space. The members of the Neoconcretismo considered the artwork as an organic, living phenomenon. These principles are expressed in Clark's Bichos (Critters), which are geometric, movable sculptures that can be folded into ever new positions by the viewer. This led to the creation of her Objetos Sensoriais (Sensory Objects), including glasses, masks and suits that extended the recipients' sensory experience to the whole body. At the end of the 1960s, she developed her concept of the Corpo Coletivo (Collective Body), which describes community-building, performative actions. Towards the end of her career, Clark finally developed a body-related therapy method in which her art objects were used.

The aim of the retrospective is to highlight Clark's international importance for the development of 20th century art and to introduce her to a broad audience in Germany. The exhibition in the Neue Nationalgalerie presents her entire oeuvre. Her interactive work will have a special impact in the glass exhibition hall of the Neue Nationalgalerie. The retrospective brings together around 120 loans from international private collections and museums, including the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the Museum of Modern Art and the Cisneros Collection in New York.

Twice a week, on Thursdays at 5.30 pm and Sundays at 12 noon, various performances by Lygia Clark will be staged in the exhibition. Dates and details of the performances can be found on the website.

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive interdisciplinary program of events, which is being developed in cooperation with the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut and supported by the Brazilian Embassy. On several evenings, the Neue Nationalgalerie invites you to enjoy live music and DJ sets with Brazilian beats, Brazilian street food and caipirinhas and cachaca drinks on the terrace. On 8 August 2025, various contemporary artists will perform on the terrace, highlighting the current relevance of Clark's approach to art. There will also be readings of works by Brazilian writers Clarice Lispector and Patricia Melo. On 27 July 2025, a special edition of the Brazilian music festival Psicotrópicos will take place on the terrace of the Neue Nationalgalerie with live performances by Hermeto Pascoal, Jota.pê, Jessica Gaspar, TUYO, YOÙN and Patricktor4.

As part of the exhibition, an academic symposium on Lygia Clark, sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, will take place at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut on 1 and 2 October 2025. The international symposium will explore Clark's work in the context of international art of the 20th century on the basis of specific thematic complexes.

A varied educational program with guided tours and workshops for families, schoolchildren and adults rounds off the exhibition. An audio guide for children and adults and an accompanying booklet for families are available free of charge.


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