Masterworks from the Hirshhorn Collection

“Masterworks from the Hirshhorn Collection,” a new rehanging of the third-level permanent collection galleries, features highlights of Joseph Hirshhorn’s original gift alongside some of the newest additions to the collection. Featuring more than 75 works in virtually all media, the exhibition includes several major artworks returning to view after more than a decade, such as Jean-Paul Riopelle’s 1964 Large Triptych, as well as in-depth installations devoted to some of the most important artists in the collection. More than a dozen paintings and works on paper by Willem de Kooning are exhibited alongside sculptures by Alberto Giacometti, creating a riveting conversation between two of the 20th century’s greatest figurative artists. Other cornerstones of the collection on view are Constantin Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse I (1909–10), Edward Hopper’s Eleven A.M. (1926), Ed Ruscha’s The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire (1965–68), Louise Bourgeois’ Legs (1986/cast 2008) and Ron Mueck’s Untitled (Big Man) (2000).

New cultural histories will be represented by some of the most recent additions to the Hirshhorn’s collection. Brazil-based Mexican artist Héctor Zamora’s O Abuso da História [The Abuse of History] (2014) is video of a a riotously destructive group performance at São Paulo’s historic Hospital Matarazzo. In the Lerner Room overlooking the National Mall,, Cuban artist Reynier Leyva Novo’s 5 Nights (2014) maps revolutionary 20th-century manifestos by Lenin, Hitler, Castro, Mao, and Gadhafi to conceptual monochromes based on the amount of ink spilled in the writing of each text. In an adjacent room is a massive sculptural installation by Argentinian artist Eduardo Basualdo, The End of Ending (2012), which occupies all but a sliver of walkable space in a gallery. Also appearing at the museum for the first time is the performative sculpture R.S.V.P. X (1976/2014) by Senga Nengudi, who was among a group of artists in 1970’s Los Angeles who explored conceptual art in their pursuit of a distinctly African-American aesthetic.

The exhibition is augmented by a special loan of Peter Doig’s painting Spearfishing (2013), which hangs alongside richly colored canvases by Francis Bacon, Richard Diebenkorn and Wifredo Lam.

Exhibition overview from museum website