Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of Space – A Major Retrospective at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (April 12 – September 15, 2025)

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice is currently presenting a landmark retrospective dedicated to the pioneering Portuguese-French abstract artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. Running from April 12 to September 15, 2025, this exhibition—titled Anatomy of Space—features approximately seventy works spanning over five decades of artistic creation, from the mid-1930s through the late 1980s.

Exhibition Overview and Curatorial Insight

Curated by Flavia Frigeri, a respected art historian and curator at the National Portrait Gallery London, the exhibition offers an in-depth exploration of Vieira da Silva’s unique visual language. Her work is renowned for transforming pictorial space into abstract environments and optical illusions, shaped by influences ranging from Cubism and Futurism to Portuguese decorative traditions.

Rather than confining her art within the often superficial comparisons with Art Informel, this retrospective repositions her oeuvre within the context of her lived experience, exile, memory, and artistic process. It reveals how her work eloquently navigates the tension where abstraction and figuration intersect in both real and imaginary spaces. The show also reflects on her formative years in Paris and her wartime exile in Rio de Janeiro with her husband Árpád Szenès—a crucial chapter that profoundly influenced her creative trajectories.

Significant Works and Themes

The exhibition includes loans from major institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Paris, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Tate Modern, London, and galleries like Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger (Paris-Lisbon). Among the highlighted works are:

  • Paris, la nuit (1951), an intricate labyrinthine composition.

  • Dédale (1975), featuring compressed geometric forms exemplifying her ongoing recomposition of pictorial space.

  • Figure de ballet (1948), oil and graphite on canvas, which demonstrates her fascination with movement and architectural space.

Historical and Artistic Context

Vieira da Silva holds a distinguished place in 20th-century European modernism, recognized early on by prominent patrons such as Peggy Guggenheim, who included her in the groundbreaking 1943 Exhibition by 31 Women at her New York gallery Art of This Century. The exhibition also revisits Vieira da Silva’s connections with Hilla Rebay, first director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting and a key early supporter, who acquired Vieira da Silva’s Composition (1936), a foundational work in the Guggenheim collection.

The show’s timing coincides with the Venice Architecture Biennale, underscoring Vieira da Silva’s acute awareness of spatial experience—both psychological and physical—informed by her background studies in anatomy and her intellectual engagement with the city as a complex, lived environment.

Exhibition Details and After Venice

Anatomy of Space is on view at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, located at Dorsoduro 701, Venice, Italy. After Venice, the exhibition will travel to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, scheduled from October 15, 2025, through February 22, 2026.

Visual and Media Resources

  • Official exhibition page: Peggy Guggenheim Collection – Maria Helena Vieira da Silva

  • Installation photos and exhibition views by Matteo De Fina provide a rich preview of the exhibition’s scale and artistry.

  • Curator Flavia Frigeri’s essays and artist insights are featured in the exhibition catalogue published by Marsilio Arte.

FAQ

Q: Who was Maria Helena Vieira da Silva?
A: She was a Portuguese-born French painter (1908–1992), renowned for her abstract works that explore the concept and experience of space through complex compositions and optical illusions.

Q: What is the focus of the "Anatomy of Space" exhibition?
A: The exhibition explores her development of a singular visual language where abstraction and figuration merge, examining over fifty years of her career with around 70 works from major international collections.

Q: What notable museums loaned artworks for this exhibition?
A: Loans come from the Centre Pompidou, MoMA, Guggenheim Museum, and Tate Modern, among others.

Q: How does Vieira da Silva’s biography influence her art?
A: Her experience of exile, memory, and study of anatomy deeply informed the spatial and emotional complexity of her paintings.

Q: Where and when is the exhibition held?
A: At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice from April 12 to September 15, 2025, followed by Guggenheim Museum Bilbao from October 15, 2025, to February 22, 2026.

Q: How can one learn more about this exhibition online?
A: Visit the official Peggy Guggenheim Collection website and refer to art press coverage such as Artsy or specialist art news outlets for in-depth articles and images.

This comprehensive retrospective marks a significant reassessment of Maria Helena Vieira da Silva’s contribution to modern art, offering audiences a chance to rediscover her masterful interplay of form, space, and abstraction in one of Europe’s premier art venues.

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