“The Guggenheim New York presents the first museum exhibition in New York devoted to the work of Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960, Rio de Janeiro), a global contemporary artist who engages with her Brazilian cultural heritage and identity through the language of abstraction. This focused exhibition features a group of fifteen paintings and works on paper from 1995 to 2023, drawn from the museum’s permanent collection and augmented by key loans, which together contextualize the broader narrative of her artistic evolution.” — Guggenheim Museum

“With almost thirty years between the earliest and most recent works in this exhibition, the pieces interact in remarkable ways, creating a strong and distinctive visual confrontation while offering a valuable opportunity to observe their evolution. I would especially note the convivial relationships between abstraction, figuration, geometry, and free forms in these works, as well as the superposition of their paint layers. The colorful compositions diverge from dark and melancholic to bright and intricate, creating a dynamic atmosphere in the exhibition,” states Beatriz Milhazes. 

Installation views, Beatriz Milhazes: Rigor and Beauty, March 7, 2025 – September 14, 2025, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photos: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. 

“The Guggenheim is thrilled to present the first New York museum exhibition of Beatriz Milhazes. Her colorful abstractions interweave references to art history and the natural world while merging Brazilian cultural motifs with modernist influences. The show offers a rare opportunity to engage with her unique creative process and see how she reinforces her Carioca roots, creating an elaborate lexicon of allusions and symbols within a vernacular Brazilian context,” states Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, Curator, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York.

Beatriz Milhazes: Rigor and Beauty is organized by Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, Curator, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York.

Title image: Beatriz Milhazes, In albis, 1995–96. Acrylic on canvas, 72 1/2 × 117 7/8 in. (184.2 × 299.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Gift, The Bohen Foundation 2001.219. © Beatriz Milhazes. Photo: Ariel Ione Williams, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York.