EXPO // CHROMOSCOPE - COLOR FIELD // CITE ARCHITECTURE & PATRIMOINE // PARIS

© Cité Architecture & Patrimoine - Chromoscope

Chromoscope - A Look at the Color Field Movement
from 25 Oct. to 16 Feb. 2026

Cité Architecture & Patrimoine
1, Place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre
75116 Paris

 www.citedelarchitecture.fr

With Chromoscope and Mute – Fabienne Verdier, the Cité is launching a new exhibition series curated by Matthieu Poirier, bringing contemporary art into dialogue with our collections. Bridging the legacy of American Color Field painting and contemporary creation, these two exhibitions engage with medieval and classical architectures, where heritage meets abstraction.

Exhibition

“Chromoscope” brings together twenty-three monumental paintings from private collections and foundations, with the support of Yares Art, to explore Color Field and Post-Painterly painting between 1955 and 1992. This exhibition is part of the institutional program of Art Basel Paris and is supported by Yares Art Gallery.

An Immersion in the Galerie des peintures murales

Installed among medieval chapels and frescoes, the exhibition confronts the monumental color of abstract works with the figurative richness of ancient décors. This unexpected encounter creates a striking contrast that invites visitors into a renewed sensory experience.

Experimentation and Legacy

Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and other key artists, rejected figuration to make color the central subject. Luminous veils, vibrant fields, and chromatic grids immerse viewers in a rich pictorial space. This movement, a major current in postwar American art, continues to inspire contemporary creation.

In Dialogue with Mute – Fabienne Verdier

This historical exploration of abstraction resonates directly with the exhibition Mute, in which Fabienne Verdier extends the investigation of gesture and color in her own way. While “Chromoscope” revisits the heritage of the 20th century, “Mute – Fabienne Verdier” offers a contemporary reinterpretation, inscribed in dialogue with architectural heritage.

Featured Artists

- Downing, Thomas (Born Suffolk, VA en 1928-died Provincetown, MA en 1985) - Francis, Sam (Born San Mateo, CA en 1923-died Santa Monica, CA en 1994)
- Frankenthaler, Helen (Born New York City, NY en 1928-died Darien, CT en 2011)
- Gottlieb, Adolph (Born New York City, NY en 1903-died New York City en 1974)
- Louis, Morris (Born Baltimore, MD en 1912-died Washington, DC en 1962)
- Motherwell, Robert (Born Aberdeen, WA en 1915-died Provincetown, MA en 1991)
- Noland, Kenneth (Born Asheville, NC en 1924-died Port Clyde, ME en 2010)
- Olitski, Jules (Born Snovsk, U.R.S.S. en 1922-died New York City, NY en 2007)
- Poons, Larry (Born Tokyo, Japon en 1937)
- Stella, Frank (Born Malden, MA en 1936-died New York City, NY en 2024)