There are some 70 works by Helen Frankenthaler in MoMA’s collection, but this concentrated installation comprises only five, hung in the museum’s Marron Family Atrium to highlight the grandness of her vision (18 November–8 February 2026). The exhibition takes its name from a phrase the artist used to describe Chairman of the Board (1971), in which a streak of largely untouched canvas cuts a swathe through an immense wash of orange. The oldest painting of the five is Jacob’s Ladder (1957), which takes its name, though not its abstract manner, from Jusepe de Ribera’s Jacob’s Dream (1639). Also on display is Toward Dark (1988), a tall, austere work in which a block of dark brown is bookended by two spectral columns.
Find out more from MoMA’s website.
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