Eric Carle, Illustration for The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse. Collection of The Eric and Barbara Carle Foundation. © 2011 Penguin Random House LLC.
Art/Art: Eric Carle’s Modernist Inspirations
Art/Art: Eric Carle’s Modernist Inspirations will examine the modernist movements and artists that shaped Eric Carle’s distinctive visual language. The exhibition traces Carle’s formative years in Germany during the Third Reich, when his art teacher secretly introduced him to the so-called “degenerate” artists banned by the regime. This early exposure left a lasting impression on Carle, whose later fascination with geometry, abstraction, and bold color reflects the influence of modernist experimentation.
The exhibition will highlight Carle’s admiration for the Bauhaus school and expressionists such as those from the Der Blaue Reiter group; presenting selections from his oeuvre in dialogue with works by these and other modernist figures. Through these pairings, Art/Art will illuminate the deep connections between fine art and illustration in Carle’s practice. The exhibition will have two main rotations, one from September 19, 2026 to February 28, 2027 and the second from March 13, 2027 to September 6, 2027.