Picture Making Exhibition Catalogue

Cecily Brown: Picture Making — the official exhibition catalogue from Serpentine Galleries, London, for the artist's first major institutional exhibition in the UK.

To accompany Cecily Brown: Picture Making, Serpentine has co-published a fully illustrated catalogue with Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Köln.

Designed by acclaimed graphic designer Irma Boom, it features excerpts from a personal correspondence between Cecily Brown and fellow British painter Celia Paul and a new in-depth interview between Brown and Serpentine's Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist. The catalogue also includes two newly commissioned poems by poet and scholar Isabel Galleymore and a piece by acclaimed American poet Mary Oliver.

Cecily Brown

Cecily Brown (b.1969, London, UK) is one of the foremost painters working today. Following instruction from British painter Maggi Hambling, Brown attended the Slade School of Fine Art, London, where she graduated with a BFA in painting in 1993. During her studies, she undertook an exchange programme at the New York Studio School where she found a deep affinity with the city. In 1994 she moved to New York, where she has continued to live and work ever since.  Known for her vigorous brushwork, vivid colour and dynamic compositions, Cecily Brown presents paintings inspired by Serpentine’s unique location in Kensington Gardens, a site of personal significance to the artist. Themes of nature and park life have long shaped Brown’s formal explorations. She experiments with scale, colour and recurring motifs, such as amorous couples, woodland scenes, and uncanny nature walks. New works made specifically for the exhibition are shown alongside a selection of key paintings dating back to 2001, in addition to recent monotypes and drawings. The exhibition gestures to Brown’s early memories of the English landscape, her fascination with children’s book illustrations, and the darker undercurrents of cautionary tales.  Recent major solo exhibitions of the artist’s work include Dallas Museum of Art, TX, USA (travelled to Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 2025); Museo Novecento & Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy (2023); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA (2023); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany (2022); Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy (2022); Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, UK (2020); and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (2018). 

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