MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

Throughout history, mythologies have provided explanations for humankind’s existential surroundings through collective beliefs and shared verbal and visual narratives. Representational visual artists have long looked to ancient mythologies as a thematic repertoire, a tradition both preserved and evolved by modern and contemporary artists who continue to address and reinterpret mythological references in their works. This exhibition addresses the artistic traces of these motifs in modern art, as well as the practice of modern myth-making, through a nonlinear, thematic representation of works, following a rough chronology from 1797 to 2007. Among the artists represented are Paul Cézanne, Odilon Redon, Pablo Picasso, Yves Tanguy, Wifredo Lam, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Beuys, and Matthew Barney.