The North American artist Robert Rauschenberg comes back forty years later to the Fundación Juan March in Madrid in this temporary exhibition titled: Robert Rauschenberg: the usage of images, coinciding with the centenary of his birth.
A multifaceted artist
Robert Rauschenberg had a very varied trajectory: he experimented several styles, such as abstract expressionism or neodadaism, being also an artist linked to the transition into Pop Art Nonetheless, he was capable of developing a quite personal style which would provide his work with a recognisible identity.
He stood out, among other things, for using different techniches such as collage, serigraphy or transfer. Moreover, he developed diverse formats, creating photographs, combined paintings or three-dimensional artworks. Furthermore, it is also remarkable his constant use of very varied materials, which led him at some point to carry out a work characterized by mixed media.
Hw worked closely with another artist, Jasper Johns, with whom he questioned the traditional concept of art. The focused on dialoguing on their projects with other artists and artworks, getting close progressively to postmodernism, and linking their work with the three-dimensional object, going beyond canvas.
His “preoccuppation with photography”
This exhibition offers a reinterpretation of Rauschenberg’s work through a lense connected essentially to photography, with examples that cover almost fifty years and introduce us into his artistic universe, understanding it as an eminently photographic project. Through these artworks we can observe his vision on the world that surrounded him, consisting in a constant unfolding of images.
While Hazel Larsen Archer was tutoring him at the Black Mountain Collage, he got closer to the world of photography, and alternated the pictorial practice with the photographic practice. As he admits within this text: “the camera functioned as a social shield”.
The result, which we can observe through his whole trajectory, is an incessant interest in images, their superposition and combination, rolling out a repertoire of artistic practices which turned him into an artist ahead of his time.
If you are in Madrid, you can not miss this exhibition at the Fundación Juan March (Robert Rauschenberg: el uso de las imágenes), that takes place until January 18th, 2026. And if you want to know more about cultural news and enjoy guided tours in different museums and exhibitions, do not forget to follow us on Social Media! @wearevoilart