Musée national Picasso-Paris will present a major exhibition devoted to Henry Taylor from 8 April to 6 September 2026. The project takes shape in close collaboration with the artist and surveys his entire career. The exhibition continues the museum’s ongoing examination of the reception of Pablo Picasso in the United States, following earlier exhibitions dedicated to Faith Ringgold in 2023, Jackson Pollock in 2024, and Philip Guston in 2025. It precedes a large-scale exhibition on the Harlem Renaissance planned for spring 2027.
The exhibition occupies two floors and thirteen rooms and brings together approximately one hundred works. Paintings, sculptures, installations, and painted objects trace Taylor’s artistic development and his sustained focus on human presence. His work addresses the complexity of lived experience through portraiture and figurative composition.
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Taylor depicts friends, family members, anonymous figures, and public personalities. These works present layered views of contemporary life in the United States, shaped by observation and direct engagement with his surroundings. His practice draws from personal experience and shared memory while maintaining an active dialogue with art history.
References to figures such as David Hammons, Philip Guston, and Pablo Picasso appear throughout the exhibition, pointing to Taylor’s ongoing exchange with earlier generations of artists. These references support his approach to reworking historical sources within a present-day context.
Alongside Kerry James Marshall, Henry Taylor holds a central place in African American painting today. Museums and institutions in the United States and internationally have presented his work in numerous exhibitions, including a major retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2024. Public collections holding his work include the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Museum of Modern Art.
The exhibition at the Musée national Picasso-Paris marks Henry Taylor’s first retrospective in France.
