Philip Guston. The irony of History

From October 14, 2025, to March 1st, 2026, the Musée national Picasso-Paris will present an exhibition dedicated to the work of Philip Guston on the ground floor and basement of the hôtel Salé. Conceived around Guston's drawings inspired by Philip Roth's book Our Gang, the exhibition will highlight the links between Guston's painting and the satirical, caricatural verve of his drawings inspired by President Nixon and his administration.

From the "Nixon Drawings" series to the artist's final paintings, the exhibition at the Picasso Museum will highlight the porosity skillfully maintained by Guston between the grotesque and caricatural verve of his drawings and the expressive power of his painting. A transfer of energy takes place, fueled by a dark humor that gives his work a caustic depth, making him a kind of painting equivalent to Kafka or Gogol.

The Philip Guston Foundation and the artist's daughter, Musa Mayer, are generously supporting the exhibition and entrusting the museum with the entire series of Nixon drawings as well as a number of previously unseen works.

The exhibition also benefited from the generous support of Renée McKee and F. X. et N. de Mallmann.

CURATION OF THE EXHIBITION

Didier Ottinger, Conservateur Général du Patrimoine.

Joanne Snrech, Conservatrice du patrimoine, Musée national Picasso Paris