Bridget Riley - The Curve Paintings 1961-2014

Bridget Riley: The Curve Paintings 1961–2014 is the major exhibition at De La Warr Pavilion this summer, and surveys the artist’s use of the curve motif in a career spanning over 50 years.  The show launches a year of celebrations marking 80 years of the Pavilion as one of the first and most significant modernist public buildings in the UK.

The exhibition is formed from a selection of over 30 paintings and studies from throughout Riley’s career, illustrating the artist’s close dedication to the interaction of form and colour by looking at a single motif.

Bridget Riley: The Curve Paintings 1961–2014 begins with early, black-and-white works such as Crest (1964), followed by paintings of twisted curves of blues, pinks and greens from the 1970s and 1980s. Recent works, includingRêve (1999) and Red with Red 1 (2007), combine curvilinear shapes with vibrant colour, described by Riley as ‘generating sweeping rhythms’. The survey also includes - for the first time outside Germany – the wall paintingRajasthan (2012).  The paintings are complemented by preparatory studies that offer insight into a number of notable shifts within Riley’s career.  The exhibition is designed to directly connect with the building’s elegant architecture, opening out the interior space towards the sea.

A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition, published by De La Warr Pavilion and Ridinghouse, featuring an in-depth interview with Riley by Paul Moorhouse, 20th Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and a biography by art historian Robert Kudielka.

De La Warr website

Gemeentemuseum den Haag website