Gagosian, in collaboration with Olney Gleason and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, will present an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Lee Krasner from the 1960s at its rue de Ponthieu gallery in Paris.

Opening on 19 October 2026, the show marks the first solo presentation of Krasner’s work in France and follows renewed international interest generated by the touring retrospective Lee Krasner: Living Color (2019–21).

The exhibition coincides with Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (4 October 2026–31 January 2027), and focuses on a defining decade in Krasner’s practice, shaped by gestural abstraction, experimentation, and reinvention. Eric Gleason of Olney Gleason emphasised the significance of the period in clarifying her position as one of the most inventive painters of the postwar era.

A key figure of the New York School, Krasner spent the 1960s working between Springs, East Hampton, and Manhattan, developing increasingly large-scale, lyrical abstractions. During this period she reduced her palette, worked more directly with paint from the tube, and pushed toward greater formal freedom. These shifts produced works such as the Umber paintings (1959–62) and the Primary Series (1960s), widely regarded as central to her oeuvre.

Her reputation was further consolidated by her 1965 retrospective at London’s Whitechapel Gallery, curated by Bryan Robertson. By the end of the decade, she was exploring more calligraphic approaches to colour in gouache on paper. The Paris exhibition brings together works from across this period, culminating in Comet (1966–70), an oil on canvas in the collection of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

Although this is Krasner’s first solo exhibition in France, the country played a formative role in her development. Influenced by French modernism, particularly Henri Matisse, she deepened her engagement with European painting during a 1956 visit to Paris, including time at the Louvre. In 1982, she was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in recognition of her contribution to the arts.

The exhibition marks Krasner’s debut at Gagosian, with Olney Gleason continuing to represent her work internationally in partnership with the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.