A new exhibition titled 'Francis Picabia. Expanding Horizons' has opened at Hauser & Wirth London, showcasing five decades of the artist's experimental work. The show includes dense, layered postwar paintings from his return to Paris with his wife Olga, as well as earlier pieces spanning Impressionism, Dada, and his Transparencies series. Organized with the Comité Picabia, the exhibition features works such as 'Composition abstraite' (1947) and 'Le Zèbre' (c. 1909-1933), highlighting Picabia's habit of revisiting and painting over canvases across decades.
The exhibition matters because it offers a rare, comprehensive look at Picabia's relentless reinvention and his defiance of artistic conventions, from early landscapes to radical abstract works. By presenting pieces that show his layering of old and new ideas, the show underscores his influence on 20th-century art and his refusal to follow trends, making it significant for understanding his legacy and the evolution of modern art.