Exhibitions

Henry Taylor. Where thoughts provoke

Paris, France

A century-spanning dialogue between Henry Taylor’s raw, empathetic portraits of the Black experience and the legacy of Pablo Picasso.

Acrylic and charcoal on canvas

Image credit

Henry Taylor, "Split", 2013 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection Photo : Sam Kahn

Meet the artist

The Movement

Contemporary Art, Painting

ArtLovers Tip

Look closely at the materials in his sculptures; Taylor often uses discarded items that carry their own history, adding a tactile layer to his painted narratives.

Exhibition Highlights - What you'll see

Henry Taylor captures the rhythm of life in a way few contemporary painters dare, moving between the intimate faces of friends and the heavy weight of social history. This exhibition marks his first major French survey, positioning his acrylic-heavy, gestural style within the historic walls of the Hôtel Salé. It is a homecoming of sorts, testing how Taylor’s distinctively American narratives of struggle and joy resonate against the modernist shadows of Picasso.

You're watching a sprawling assembly of one hundred works across thirteen rooms, where monumental canvases meet found-object sculptures. The light of the Marais filters onto thick applications of paint that seem almost wet, turning portraits of anonymous passersby into icons that command the same gravity as art history's giants.

Worth the trip

  • French retrospective debut: This is the first opportunity to see Taylor’s expansive career surveyed on French soil, offering a rare cohesion of his diverse styles.
  • A curated dialogue: The exhibition explores Taylor’s specific engagement with Picasso, revealing how an American master reimagines European modernism through a contemporary lens.
  • Unprecedented scale: Spanning two full floors of the museum, the sheer volume of work provides a physical immersion into the artist's prolific and multifaceted output.

How to experience it

Walk slowly through the thirteen rooms to let the scale of the installations settle, then head out into the narrow streets of the Marais for a glass of wine to reflect on the faces Taylor has left in your mind. The transition from the artist's intense human observations to the bustling Parisian afternoon helps ground the exhibition's emotional weight.

Paris, France

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