The Parrish Art Museum in New York will present 'Sean Scully: The Albee Barn, Montauk' from May 11 to September 21, 2025. The exhibition surveys Scully's work from 1981 to 2024, focusing on a pivotal month he spent in Montauk in 1982 with a fellowship at The Edward F. Albee Foundation. It features 15 of the original 1982 Montauk paintings, reunited for the first time since their creation on found wood scraps in the Albee Barn, marking a turning point where Scully broke from Minimalism and embraced nature, color, and visible brushstrokes.
This exhibition matters because it highlights a transformative moment in Sean Scully's career—his first intimate encounter with nature after growing up in urban environments—which shaped his signature approach to multi-panel works and direct responses to light and landscape. By reuniting these early works near the site where they were made, the show offers rare insight into the origins of a major contemporary artist's practice and underscores the enduring influence of place and fellowship programs on artistic development.