The Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill has opened a new exhibition titled "Color Triumphant," featuring 54 modern paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the collection of Julian and Josie Robertson. The show spans from the 1870s to the present, highlighting the liberation of color in modern art with works by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pablo Picasso, Frank Stella, and André Derain, whose painting "The Jetty at L'Estaque" serves as the flagship piece. Curated by deputy director Peter Nisbet, the exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Robertson Foundation after Julian Robertson's death in 2022, and includes student research support. It runs through January 4, with related lectures and film screenings, and a second iteration, "Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Hang from the Robertson Collection," opening January 30.
This exhibition matters because it brings a significant private collection—the Robertsons' distinguished holdings—to a university museum, offering the Carolina community direct access to masterworks of modern art that trace the evolution of color from Impressionism to contemporary abstraction. The show's deliberate curatorial arc, linking Monet's subtle red rosebushes to Donald Sultan's bold floral prints, demonstrates how color has been liberated from naturalism to become an expressive force. By featuring lesser-known works alongside canonical artists, the exhibition also challenges viewers to engage with color as a primary subject, reinforcing the Ackland's role as a vital educational and cultural resource in the region.